Ghostly Hauntings
by YumeNoAnata
Summary: As part of ghost hunting society Mai investigates a high school and as a result, finds herself being haunted by the ghost of a teenager called Naru who refuses to leave her alone until she finds out what happened to him. The journey brings them closer together and she soon finds out that not everything is as it seems with the spirit. AU. Naru x Mai.
1. Chapter 1

**Ghostly Hauntings:**

 **Summary:** As part of ghost hunting society Mai investigates a high school and finds herself being haunted by the ghost of a teenager called Naru who refuses to leave her alone until she finds out what happened to him. The journey brings them closer together and she soon finds out that not everything is as it seems with the spirit. AU. Naru x Mai.

* * *

 **Chapter 1:**

Mai struggled to juggle all the coffee cups she was holding and open the door to the club room at the same time. She hated being on drink duty. The designated person was supposed to be Yasuhara who hadn't turned up at the society for a few weeks, apparently because he was studying.

Their club hadn't been considered popular enough to get one of the better room so they couldn't make their own drinks. Instead one of them would go to the coffee shop and lug all the drinks up the stairs to the top floor. They rotated so it was fair.

"Here's your frappe, Keiko-chan," she managed to put the cardboard cup down without spilling everything. "This one's Michiru's iced coffee."

She handed the relevant plastic container to Michiru and moved onto the next person.

"I have your English tea here, John," she smiled at their blond and male member.

"Thank you, Taniyama-san."

That left her with the green tea. She sat down at the table and checked for any sign that they were expecting clients. John was reading the bible, Keiko was texting on her phone and Michiru was taking a selfie. Clearly they hadn't taken any appointments whilst she had been waiting in the coffee shop on the other side of the campus.

"No clients then?" she asked anyway.

Keiko looked up from her phone. "Nope."

Mai sighed and switched her attention to looking out the window. It was a beautiful day outside with a blue cloudless sky and a temperature that was comfortably warm. When she had started university she had imagined joining an exciting society and spending lots of time doing fun activities.

Instead she had joined a society that did nothing. They were the paranormal society and did consultations for people that believed they were being haunted by ghosts. So far only five people had come and those people had been imagining it.

Mai would have left the society last month, but she had paid the membership fee and wouldn't get a refund so she was determined to get value for her money. She took out a book she had taken out of the library and settled down for a read. They were just going to do nothing again for the next two hours. It had been the agenda for the past four meetings, do nothing and hope a client turns up before the time is up.

Something happened when she was getting to the good part of the book. The murderer was about to revealed and then Keiko squealed. Mai got a fright and accidentally dropped the book.

"Don't do that, you gave me a fright," Michiru whined. "Is it a spider again?"

Keiko glared at her. "No, it's a case!"

Mai allowed herself to feel a little excited. Maybe they were going to do something fun? She stood up and went over to Keiko.

"I was texting my brother and he told me that his school is haunted. He begged us to do something about it because everyone is too scared to stay and study after school."

"Isn't your brother in high school?" Mai questioned.

"Yes, he is in his final year," Keiko replied as her phone buzzed again. "I have another message. He says that he hasn't seen it, but he knows people that have. It's probably because he goes to cram school instead of staying behind."

It was beginning to sound like the start of a good mystery to solve. Mai's mind started to buzz with the possibilities. Maybe they could do an exorcism or a summoning, they could use the EVP recorder that had just been gathering dust in the corner.

"Should we take it on?" John asked.

"We don't have anything to lose by taking it on," Michiru said.

"I agree, if it's turns out to be nothing except mass hysteria so be it. We haven't lost anything apart from club hours," Keiko agreed.

"We can still hone our investigation skills as well," Mai answered.

"That's right," Keiko grinned. "We will benefit from this case either way. I'll call my brother and get some more information from him before we make arrangements. Someone should inform Yasuhara about it as well."

Within half an hour they had all of the necessary information they needed for preliminary investigation of the case. The ghost had never been seen before 5 o'clock, it was a male ghost wearing a school uniform, so far no one had been close enough to confirm it was the uniform of the school. It didn't appear every day, there wasn't an apparent pattern yet to its appearances. None of the teachers had seen it yet either.

There was only one question left.

How were they supposed to investigate it?

This was the main source of the debate between the four of them, all with very differing opinions.

"We are going to have to break in at night," Michiru said with a suspiciously eager glint to her eyes.

"We shouldn't break the law. If we get caught, the society will be closed down and we will have criminal charges on our records," John protested.

John was the conscience of the group. He was always fair and above board. Keiko and Michiru were the opposite so a contrast was very necessary.

"We just have to not get caught then," Keiko retorted. "Mai, what do you think?"

All three of them turned to her and Mai groaned. She had become the person that settled all of the society disagreements when Yasuhara was absent.

"We don't have much choice in the matter. The ghost comes out late so we can't just visit the school during lesson hours on some pretext. Perhaps we should just use your brother to investigate instead."

Mai really didn't know what else to say. Of course Michiru waved it away.

"No way are we putting this in the hands of my brother- he's an idiot. We have to find another way."

"We could ask the school for permission," John suggested.

This sensible sounding suggestion got shot down immediately by all three of them. Mai shook her head at him.

"John, I have no idea how it works in Australia, but you can't ask a school to give you access in the evening to investigate ghost occurrences that none of the teachers have seen," Michiru said pityingly.

"Were going to have to break the rules then," Keiko announced. "Let's hope we don't have to go there ever again."

* * *

That evening Mai regretted eating dinner whilst she was crouched behind a bush outside the school gate. Her dinner of instant ramen was sloshing uncomfortably around her stomach. The only consolation was that John was probably feeling worse.

She flinched when someone touched her shoulder and whirled round to see Yasuhara, their society president grinning down at her.

"You're so easy to scare."

"Shut up! I could have screamed the place down and revealed everything," she whispered.

It appeared that Yasuhara was able to join them for the evening. She wished Michiru had told her beforehand to avoid the scare.

"I'll give you a leg up over the back wall," he said cheerfully. "The others are all waiting there."

That explained why no one else was crouched behind bushes in uncomfortable positions. They walked around to the street behind the school and as promised Yasuhara gave her leg up so she could climb the wall. It gave her a flashback to the one time where she was late for school and tried to climb the wall only to fail miserably and get caught anyway.

Luckily she managed it this time and landed in a flowerbed. Yasuhara jumped down a few seconds later and made her squeal again.

She felt like she was being glared at and realised that the rest of the club were waiting on the paved path a metre away.

"Don't mind Mai," Yasuhara said in a low voice. "I like scaring her."

"If you two get us caught…" Keiko warned.

Yasuhara shot her a warning look in return and then rapidly changed the subject.

"Well, we are here now. How do we get in?"

Keiko smirked. "I asked my brother to leave a window unlocked for us to climb in. It should be around here somewhere."

Keiko's estimation of 'around here somewhere' turned out to be a little skewed. Mai found the unlocked window around the other side of the building and climbed through first to end up in a very nondescript school corridor. She took out her flashlight from her backpack and shone it around. There were a few posters detailing club events and the school cultural festival, but that was it.

"Where are we?" she asked.

Behind her Keiko was struggling to get her leg over the window frame so Mai helped drag her in.

"We're in the south corridor. The ghost doesn't appear around here. We need to go up the stairs twice and head towards the third year classrooms."

Due to the fact that Mai hadn't attended this school she felt disorientated in an unfamiliar location in very dim light. It was also eerily silent apart from everyone's breathing and it didn't help that it was a cold night which meant that the wind blowing through the corridor from the open window was chilling.

They reached the third floor without any issues apart from John tripping up the stairs in the poor light. The group gathered outside the toilets to discuss how they were going to investigate.

"Some of us have lectures first thing tomorrow so we don't want to be here for too long. We need to split up so we can cover as much ground as possible," Yasuhara said.

The uneven number of them meant that the groups were not well arranged. Michiru paired with Michiru and Keiko with John which left Mai alone.

"I can't do this alone, it's scary," Mai protested. She was now feeling even more terrified than she had been before.

She had assumed they would all stick together and it wouldn't be too bad. Yasuhara caught sight of her white face and took pity on her.

"Mai, you can follow behind us to check for things," he said and Mai breathed a sigh of the relief.

Sometimes having Yasuhara around as a good thing rather than an annoyance like it was most of the time.

Mai followed Yasuhara and Keiko staying a metre behind them to see if there was anything they hadn't seen. It turned out that there was nothing out of place or strange about the art corridor although one of the plaster busts made her jump for a second.

When they passed a classroom Mai saw something out of place through the window in the door and slid open the door for a closer look, fully prepared to call out if there was something.

There was nothing out of place in the classroom and she spent a moment at the back of the room recalling some of her memories of high school. Some of them were good, some were downright embarrassing and some of them she didn't want to recall. Luckily she didn't have a failed confession to a senpai to cringe about.

She turned to go and something materialised at the front of the classroom. Was it the ghost?

The apparition was a male with black hair, pale skin and blue eyes and was wearing a black blazer and trousers. Mai opened her mouth to shout for the others and only a croak came out. Her fear had caused her to lose her voice.

The ghost stared at her directly in the eye and spoke, causing a chill to run down her spine.

"You can see me, can't you?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Ghostly Hauntings:**

 **Chapter 2:**

Mai tried to calm down her erratic heart beat with a deep breath. It didn't work and the spirit looked impatient with her. She tried again and she managed to choke out a reply.

"I think I can see you..."

"I am really here," he told her coldly.

She was sure she could detect disdain in his voice. Now she had recovered from the shock, her brain was working to full speed. Mai looked over the spirit again.

He was a male and from what she could tell from his translucent form, he wasn't bad looking either. That thought made her give herself a mental slap. She was here for business. She wasn't going to waste their illegal excursion on stuttering and debating on the good looks of a ghost.

"Are you the ghost that the students see?" she asked the most obvious and important question.

"I am the only ghost here," he replied quickly. "I try to talk to people, but they just scream and run away."

Mai softened a little when she heard that. It was clear he wasn't an evil spirit, he was just trying to find people to talk to. She could understand why people would scream and run though. His glowing form did look terrifying on a first glance.

"I haven't run away yet," she pointed out.

He locked eyes with her.

"No, you haven't yet."

The boy's ghost was nothing like she had been expecting. They were holding a conversation normally. The subject was otherworldly, but he was talking like a normal live person. His voice wasn't frightening. It had a sternness to it, however it was pleasant. Were all ghosts really like this?

Mai was about to ask a question when she heard running feet and Yasuhara came running in with Keiko lagging behind.

"Why did you drop back?" Yasuhara demanded. "I was worried."

That was right, she had been following them. Seeing a ghost for the first time had wiped everything out of her mind.

"I found the ghost," she said and pointed.

That point turned out to be aimed at thin air because the ghost had gone. Mai blinked again, he was still missing. Where had he gone?

"He was here, I talked to him," she said before her sanity could be questioned.

She searched their faces for a sign that they believed her. Keiko looked skeptical and Yasuhara simply looked curious.

"What did you talk about?" he asked.

"He said that everyone he tries to talk to runs away. That's all I got out of him before you two came," she related to him.

"What did he look like?" Keiko looked less disbelieving now.

Mai thought back to it. "He looked high school age, he was wearing a uniform. It wasn't a gakuran though. He had black hair and possibly blue eyes."

"Hmm," was all Keiko said.

Mai felt a sharp nudge to her side and she turned her head to see Yasuhara grinning at her.

"For what it's worth, I believe you."

Thanks to Yasuhara's subtle persuasion, John and Michiru showed no signs of skepticism when they regrouped by the stairs and Mai explained everything. Michiru was just disappointed that she hadn't seen the ghost herself.

"So, the reports were true," she said happily. "Do you know what this means?"

Mai caught onto her enthusiasm. The trip to the school hadn't been a dead end like they had all been expecting.

"It means we have our first official case!"

They all cheered together. Once it went silent again, Mai knew they had a long road ahead of them because only one of them had seen the ghost and it was possible that they would have to sneak into school again. This meant there was an increased chance of them getting caught.

Additionally, did they even know how to exorcise a ghost?

That was a concern for a later date.

* * *

Her next encounter with the ghost was the following evening after a late lecture. Mai hated Thursdays because of her last lecture ending at 7. This always meant a late dinner and not much time before bed time.

She was trudging tiredly down the stairs at university when the ghost popped up beside her. It gave her enough of a fright to cause her to lose her balance and slip down the stairs. This made her wake up sharply at the expense of her back.

Fortunately the rest of her class were way ahead of her and hadn't noticed her slip. The ghost held out his hand awkwardly to her and then retracted it as if remembering that he couldn't pull her up.

"Did you have to appear like that?" She groaned. "That was dangerous."

"I didn't mean it," he assured her. "It was hard pinpointing you down so I just took the chance."

Mai pulled herself up and flexed. She was going to have bruise, but she hadn't broken anything. She focused on the ghost. He had disappeared last time and she hadn't been able to ask him any questions. Now he was right in front of her and seemed talkative.

"Where did you go last time?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. My grip in the real world is weak. I don't spend much time here so I want to make it worth it. I don't know when I will disappear."

Mai softened a little. He hadn't deliberately inconvenienced her by disappearing before anyone else could see him. Her attention diverted onto another path when she heard people coming up the stairs.

If anyone else saw the ghost, there was guaranteed to be mayhem. She had to get him out of there.

In the end she took the ghost to the society's room. She hadn't had much choice in where she could go because most places became restricted at university after a certain time and the all night area of the library was always occupied by at least one person.

Fortunately the ghost hadn't disappeared along the way. He was now looking around the small room. Mai took out her phone and turned on the voice recorder. The other society members would have to believe her now.

Mai decided it would be best to start off simply.

"What's your name?"

The answer came easily.

"Naru."

That was certainly a unique name. If she was going to search for information about him, that name was going to be rare enough that she was certain to succeed.

"What's your surname?"

This question proved to be the stumbling point. Naru looked uncomfortable.

"I don't know. I don't remember anything."

She was now feeling even worse on his behalf. Ghost hunting was more heartbreaking than she had anticipated. Reading books and watching those spiritualist TV shows hadn't prepared her for how hard dealing with a ghost really was.

"So you can only remember things that have happened since you've been a ghost in this world?"

Naru nodded.

"Why are you haunting the school?"

The ghost crossed his arms and shot her an irritable look.

"I don't know. Whenever I awake here, I'm always there. When I woke up there just now, I wanted to see you again. I concentrated and I found myself here."

That was interesting and she was rather proud of the fact that Naru had wanted to see her so badly.

"You must have a tie to that school then. How long have you been there?"

"I don't have much of a knowledge of the passage of time. However, I look at calendars or anything that has the date every time and I think it's been a year."

Mai found that statement strange. She didn't doubt he was telling the truth, he sounded very sure. The anomaly was that Keiko would have heard about the case before from her brother before if it had been going on for that long.

"Are you sure? You must have been a very discreet ghost for the first six months then."

"I used to only be here for a few minutes before I felt myself fade," Naru explained. "Now I can spend extended periods here. I don't know if it's a good thing or not."

Mai found herself missing the other members. She was running out of investigative questions to ask. Yasuhara and John would know what to enquire about. Her phone caught her eye and she remembered that she would be showing the recording to other people. She needed to get more information.

"Do you really not remember anything from your human life?"

Naru was silent for a moment and Mai felt bad for having to ask that question.

"I genuinely don't know anything about my human life. I just have an awareness of being called Naru. That's it."

"Have you encountered any other spirits?" Mai questioned.

This question was for future reference. She wasn't sure how spirits interacted with each other or even if they could see each other let alone communicate.

"No. I've gone to cemeteries looking for spirits and I've never seen any. It's been lonely."

A cemetery sounded like it should be the ideal place to look for people that hadn't passed on and were still wandering around the land of the living. Or maybe the spiritual world didn't work like it did in stories. She was learning a lot in the past two days.

"Can you interact with objects or go through walls?" was her next question when she remembered how he had retracted his proffered hand on the stairs.

"I can walk through walls," Naru had the ghost of a smile on his face. "I can pick up objects and open doors."

"Can you touch people?"

"I've never tried because I have never had the opportunity," Naru paused. "May I try with you?"

It was a moment of insecurity for Mai. In books touching a ghost supposedly felt like ice water or like a chill that went through the body. In the interests of science she held out her hand to the spirit. Naru reached out and placed his hand in hers.

Mai felt a shiver go down her spine as they touched hands. She couldn't feel his hand like a living person's hand though. His hand felt insubstantial like she was imagining she was touching something.

"I can feel your skin," Naru commented, with a hint of satisfaction to his voice. "I can't grip your hand though."

The brunette flicked her hand up and found it went through Naru's hand perfectly like a sharp knife through butter. Although she could feel the presence of his hand, it clearly wasn't physically there.

The glowing numbers on the digital clock in the corner caught her attention and she realised how late it had become since Naru turned up. She could get locked in if she didn't leave soon. Naru followed her gaze and frowned.

"Are you leaving now?"

Mai picked up her coat and keys. "I have to and I can't miss the last bus."

"Can I come home with you?" Naru asked. "It's lonely in that school."


	3. Chapter 3

**Ghostly Hauntings:**

 **Chapter 3:**

For the duration of her journey home Mai nervously waited for Naru to reappear. He had suddenly faded away whilst she had been waiting at the bus stop. At the time, it seemed to be fortunate because the bus was more crowded than she had anticipated, but at the same time she had no idea when he would return to her.

She was only just starting to get to know him. Much to her happiness, he returned as she was removing her shoes in the entryway of her apartment and she didn't fall over this time.

"Do you remember where you went this time?" she asked hopefully.

Naru shook his head.

"I woke up in that school again and I then I came here."

Mai sat down at the kotatsu and opened the notebook that lay on top. It wasn't yet cold enough to actually use the heater, but it served as a table well enough. She had brought it with her when she moved apartments because it was one of the few possessions she had that had belonged to her parents.

"…Maybe you died at that school and that's why you are tied to it?" she theorised.

The spirit looked thoughtful. "You could be right. The problem is, I'm not wearing the school uniform of that school. I can't have been a student there."

Mai noted that down. It was a very interesting point. If he was a student that died there, he should be wearing the school uniform. She squinted again at his outfit. It seemed a little too smart to be a casual outfit. Some schools did have more western style uniforms, perhaps his blazer and trousers were from another school.

It was an interesting point to consider. He certainly looked like he was the right age for a high school student. His face hadn't narrowed out yet, although he did have a mature air to him.

"What's the blanket for?" he asked suddenly.

Mai followed his gaze to the blanket on the edge of her kotatsu that was covering her legs and raised her eyebrows.

"It's a kotatsu," she informed him. "You can sleep under it in the winter. It has a heater underneath. It's really cosy."

He looked blank. "I see."

His reaction brought something else to mind. John, the conscience of the ghost hunting society, was from Australia and was still learning a lot of things about Japan. He often asked them about things he saw on TV shows or asked about cultural references he didn't understand.

She looked into his eyes. They were a very pleasant shade of blue. Maybe he wasn't fully Japanese. His eye colour was the only thing that looked out of place and he certainly didn't speak Japanese with an accent. It was something to consider that might help in finding out who he really was.

"Have you ever seen anything suspicious at that school?" was her next question.

"If it happens, it occurs in the daytime. I only wake up there later in the day."

She noted it down to save working out the significance for later. Maybe one of the other society members would be able to work it out. She felt a yawn developing and suppressed it out of politeness. Naru smirked at her.

"If you are tired, go to sleep. You will see me tomorrow, nothing is going to happen to me in between now and then," he assured her.

Mai reminded herself that Naru was probably dead so it wasn't like he was going to die while she was asleep. She would be able to find out more the next day. Something came to her mind when she stood up and stretched her arms out. Naru could go through walls and she needed to change her clothes.

"Please don't follow me into my bedroom or peek at all," she requested, feeling mortified once the words had left her mouth.

This garnered her a very sarcastic eye roll from the spirit.

"I'm a ghost, not a pervert," he retorted. "I will stay out of your bedroom. I have no interest in whatever you do in there."

Feeling confident that Naru was not a perverted ghost, she got changed into her pyjamas and eagerly jumped into bed. It had been a long day full of surprises and she was feeling too tired to keep her eyes open so she turned off her lamp and relaxed.

Her dreams were stranger than usual. Like all person's dreams, Mai's dreams were usually made up of vivid imagery mixed with occasional realism. This time she was running late for a western style church wedding as a guest then the dreamscape adjusted and she was standing at the altar in a lacy white dress, holding a bouquet of very pretty flowers. The groom had his back towards her.

Then he turned and she realised he was Naru. He wasn't in his spiritual form, he looked completely normal although a little softer eyed.

* * *

Then Mai woke up to the normal surroundings of her bedroom when they were about to kiss. She didn't know if she was received or disappointed by it. It was a puzzling feeling to her. Her stomach rumbled so she eagerly kicked aside her covers in search for breakfast which would distract her. Analysing the dream could come later.

Her lectures that day started in the afternoon so she was technically free in the morning. That wasn't very true though, free time was supposed to be used for research and for working on papers. Having a ghost attached her made her want to work on her upcoming paper less so she justified putting it off for another day.

The society was also due to meet that day and she was debating whether to let the others know about Naru now or keep it as a surprise for later. The second option sounded much more attractive to her. It was probably Yasuhara's influence.

The ghost in question was nowhere to be seen in her apartment so she knew he had gone to wherever he went during the day. Where could it be? Purgatory? Mai had no idea, but she hoped they would work it out soon.

The society meeting was well attended from the start. Yasuhara had actually turned up and purchased everyone's drinks orders unprompted. Keiko and Michiru weren't taking selfies and John didn't have his bible out.

"So, Mai have you seen the ghost again?" Yasuhara enquired to start the meeting off.

This was what Mai had been waiting for. She stood up and took out her phone.

"Actually yes, he visited me last night. I recorded the conversation," she informed them.

She felt very happy when she saw the surprise on their faces. Naturally she had listened to the recorded audio to check that Naru was audible earlier on in the day so she did have proof. The audio started from a later part where she had been asking better questions and sounded more confident.

When it finished, she felt smug from the looks on their faces. There were no traces of disbelief and skepticism at all. John and Yasuhara looked keenly interested whilst Keiko and Michiru were still looking shell shocked.

"You did a good job," Yasuhara complimented her. "Not that I ever doubted you."

Mai felt warmth pass through her at the compliment.

"I agree," John said and gave her a thumbs up. "You found out a lot."

The two female members were on a different line of thought. It was a very opposite line of thought,

"He has a nice voice," Keiko said.

"Naru is a unique name," Michiru observed. "When do we get to meet him?"

They all turned expectantly to Mai who was now beginning to feel overwhelmed. It seemed like she was in charge of them for the moment instead of Yasuhara.

"He only comes here at night. I took some other notes from another conversation I didn't record."

She related some of the facts she had gleaned from her questioning in her apartment and Yasuhara gave his approval to her observation regarding his nationality.

"His voice sounds clearer than I was expecting," John said when she had finished. "I meant to say this before. You should have used the EVP recorder, but everything worked out for the best."

Mai was inclined to take John's advice because he was the only one out of the five of them that had experiences with ghosts. She thought of when she touched Naru's hand. She had felt it to a degree which had not been what she had expected.

"Have you touched a ghost before? she asked and flushed when she realised that it did sound a little dirty. Yasuhara smirked at her and wiggled his eyebrows for good measure.

"I've had a ghost run through me before," John replied. "It felt like an icy cold shower. What does Naru feel like?"

"Nothing. I could just vaguely tell that something was there."

John didn't reply and instead he looked like he was thinking deeply. In the meantime, Yasuhara took out the society's official ledger from the closet in the corner and cleared his throat loudly.

"I am announcing our first official ghost case," he proclaimed.

The three females cheered loudly. Yasuhara sat back down and opened the ledger.

"I am taking charge as I am the president. Mai is my second in command because Naru is attached to her," he explained.

Mai smiled despite the implication that she had a ghost following her around everywhere.

"First, we need to find out who 'Naru' is," he announced.

Mai wasn't quite sure where to look to find him. Recent records were always locked from public access as far as she knew. However, they could always look at news articles. Naru might have not died naturally if he was haunting a school.

"Keiko and Michiru can check online sites. I'm going to look into births and deaths," Yasuhara said. "Mai is in charge of Naru."

John looked out of the window. It wasn't dark enough yet to close the blinds. The nights were drawing in as it was very late autumn, but it wasn't late enough for the sun to have set.

"Are we going to wait for Naru to come here?" he asked.

"Is everyone free to wait?" Yasuhara asked. "I technically should be working on my research project, but this is more important and I can't miss an opportunity to meet a ghost."

It turned out that no one had any prior plans. Or rather none of them wanted to miss an opportunity to meet a real ghost. They passed the time until 7 by searching for Naru online. Unfortunately, they couldn't find anything.

"I'm beginning to think that Mai really was right about Naru not spending much time in Japan," Yasuhara commented after giving up searching for Naru. "There's nothing on him."

Mai looked over at John.

"What would be the English version of 'Naru?"

John looked to be completely stuck. "…I can't think of a name that sounds anything like that. It could be a family nickname, they usually make no sense to other people."

Was Naru a nickname rather than a real name? The more Mai thought about it she began to think it could be right. It was too strange and out of place to be a real Japanese name.

John took out his phone. He hadn't participated in the online searching due to his inexperience with Japanese slang on social media.

"I'm going to search for something, I had an idea," he explained. "There might be nothing in it."

Mai waited patiently for him to finish. It was nearly 7 in the evening and it was now pitch black outside. She walked over the window to pull down the blind. Much to her disgust it was raining outside and she had forgotten her umbrella. She was about to ask if anyone was using the one in the closet when John announced his finding.

"I've got it! Naru is actually Noll," he said with a note of triumph. "Mai probably misheard him."

Mai acknowledged that she had misinterpreted his name. She hadn't been sure at the time and she had never repeated the name in front of him so there hadn't been an opportunity for him to correct her.

"Noll is still weird," Keiko pointed out.

"It's an obscure nickname for Oliver," John answered.

Mai looked over at John as he spoke and noticed a translucent form slowing materialising in front of him.

"Noll?" she called out.

Naru's face and body became more defined. Keiko squealed loudly and he looked irritably at her. She promptly closed her mouth. Naru switched his attention to Mai.

"It is indeed me," he answered. "Is this the other members of your society?"

"They are," she acknowledged. "…is your name Oliver?"

The ghost was silent for a moment as if he was thinking it over. Then he smiled.

"I think it is."


	4. Chapter 4

**Ghost Hauntings:**

 **Chapter 4:**

Oliver was certainly not a Japanese name. Mai felt a small burst of pride, her guess about Naru's nationality was right after all. They might be able to find out who he really was now. However the foreign name opened up even more questions.

Mai looked over at John. He was looking quietly thoughtful now and he was searching for something on his phone again.

Keiko and Michiru were interrogating Naru who was looking increasingly annoyed with them. Possibly it was because all of their questions had been asked by Mai before. Naru rolled his eyes when they asked if he was sure about not remembering anything for the fourth time and floated across the room to stand next to Mai.

"Shall I call you Oliver now?" Mai asked. "I thought you were called Naru before."

Naru shook his head. "You can call me Naru, Mai."

Much to her surprise she felt herself heat up when he said her name without honorifics. Why did it make her blush? Her attention was diverted by Yasuhara calling out to her.

"Have you witnessed any deaths in the past two years?" he questioned. "I was trying to work out how you two are connected. There has to be a reason why Naru is able to find you so easily."

She met Naru's steady gaze and realised that Yasuhara was right. The spirit was certainly tied to the school if he always arrived in that place. Despite that connection, he was always able to return to her wherever she was. Had it only arisen because she was the only person that hadn't run away from him? There had to be more to it than that.

"I had been wondering that too," Naru agreed. "Did you attend that high school? You could have been there when I died."

This was one question she definitely knew the answer to.

"I had never been there until two days ago. I went to a different high school. It's near that school, but I've never even walked past that school before."

Now she had to think of an answer to Yasuhara's question. Could she have witnessed Naru's death? Nothing jumped to mind immediately. She certainly hadn't seen any murders- she would definitely remember seeing one. Mai considered suicide next and she knew she hadn't witnessed one. That was something she would have never forgotten. That left accidents as the only likely option.

Something came to mind. She had witnessed a car accident just over a year ago and if she remembered, the victim had been a young man. If she recalled correctly she had seen him bleeding at the side of the highway. She hadn't witnessed the actual impact.

"I was at the scene of a car accident. The boy that was hit didn't die though," she said. "He was badly injured, but he was taken away alive by an ambulance."

John joined the conversation suddenly.

"Did you actually see the victim?"

Her memory of the accident was a little hazy due to it being over a year ago, but she was sure about what she had seen. She had been too far away to see the boy properly. The victim had been wearing all black which she had taken as being a school uniform, that was why she had assumed it was a young male. Come to think of it, Naru wore all black as well. Had it really been him?

"I wasn't the only person on the street at the time, there turned out to be a doctor there ahead of me and he was the one to administer first aid and call an ambulance. He told me to keep people away, although a lady who was a nurse ran over to help. That's why I never saw the boy properly, I was never close enough to get a proper look."

John was looking even more deep in thought now.

"I wonder if that was Naru-san," Yasuhara wondered aloud. "It would explain your connection. Maybe you died in hospital?"

Naru smiled ruefully. "I can't say if you are right or not because I can't remember."

Keiko spoke up cheerfully. "We can ask the hospital if anyone called Oliver died there."

Michiru looked scornfully at her. "No way would they tell us that. There's confidentiality you know."

There were signs of tension radiating between the two. Fortunately Yasuhara dispelled it by raising his voice to make an announcement.

"We have several avenues open to us. We can investigate Naru's connection to the school first. If we go on the assumption that he died in the accident Mai witnessed, we can find out who he is through the hospital. I think John-san has his own idea as well."

Everyone eyes turned to the blond who looked uncomfortable under the scrutiny.

"It's just an idea," he protested weakly.

"You were right about Oliver," Mai enthused to cheer him up.

"That was a case of the right timing," John replied mysteriously. "The internet helped as well."

Mai was beginning to get a little suspicious that John knew more than he was letting on. She wasn't rude enough to pry into it though. John would tell them when he was ready to. Keiko and Michiru had no such qualms though and started asking questions.

Whilst the interrogation was ongoing Mai switched her attention to the ghost who was still standing silently next to her. Something had been bothering her a little.

"What did you do last night?"

Naru looked amused and his mouth twisted into a small smile.

"I didn't peek into your bedroom if that's what you were wondering. I just looked around and read some of your books," he paused. "Please tell me your books aren't just harlequin manga."

Upon hearing that Mai flushed bright red. She had forgotten all about her stash of badly plotted romance manga that were untidily thrown on her bookshelf in the living room. Their only saving grace was how cheap they had been and they had been a source of entertainment mainly because of how bad they were.

Her better books were kept in her bedroom. She was even in the middle of a historical biographic novel or rather she had got bored and given up. Not that she was going to admit that to Naru.

"I have murder mysteries and non-fiction books in my bedroom," she retorted. "I was planning to get rid of the harlequins."

Naru snorted back and they fell into a minor contest of if it was worse to prefer murder mysteries over true murder novels or harlequin manga over regular romance stories . Mai was of the opinion that fiction books were too dry for her and Naru was the opposite. Neither of them had a strong opinion, Naru was just very willing to talk after not having anyone to talk to for a long time and Mai was still embarrassed about Naru reading her harlequins.

An interruption came in the form of John coming over to join them.

"Did you say that you read one of Mai's books, Oliver-san?" He asked.

Mai squirmed. Now everyone was going to know about her old high school past time of reading bad romance manga she had picked up cheaply.

Naru smirked at her when he replied. "I read two and half actually. They were so lacking in substance and I had plenty of time. What is the fascination with Italian billionaires and playboys?"

John coughed awkwardly, clearly embarrassed by the subject matter. "I wasn't interested in that part. I was just intrigued to hear that you are able to pick up books and turn pages."

It was then that Mai was very certain that John knew more than he was telling them. She didn't ask any questions though. If he had avoided slipping up during a Keiko and Michiru interrogation, he wasn't going to be swayed by her.

The ghost was the one to take action. Naru narrowed his eyes at John.

"What is the significance?"

"Can I tell you tomorrow?" John requested. "I'll answer all questions then."

The society meeting adjourned when Naru faded out of sight and everyone realised how late it was. Mai, Keiko and Michiru ran as fast as they could to the bus stop as the last bus was arriving soon. It had stopped raining while they had been outside. John and Yasuhara were fortunate enough to live within walking distance.

"Naru or Oliver is not what I expected," Keiko commented once they had all sat down on the back row of seats.

"If he was alive I would have a go at him," Michiru murmured dreamily.

Both Mai and Keiko turned to look at her sharply. Mai was forced to remember her dream marriage to a living Naru which made her blush a little. Neither of her two friends noticed though.

"Seriously, Michiru-chan, get your priorities straight," Keiko said. "All was going to say is that he wasn't as scary as I thought he was going to be. His glare was the only scary part."

None of them had ever seen a ghost before. The only member of the society with experience was John who was in training to be a priest. All they knew was facts they had read in books. John was the one with the proper experience and knowledge.

Mai began to wonder about John's strange behaviour. He had been collecting information about Naru's physical capabilities. Was it because Naru was different to the other ghost he had encountered? Surely most spirits were the same.

She really needed to find reliable sources of information about ghosts. Her sketchy knowledge was only going to get her so far.

* * *

Everything came to a head the following day when John used the group chat to request a meeting outside Tokyo Medical University hospital. Mai had an inkling of the reason why because she had assumed it was the hospital the crash victim from a year ago had been taken to. The others had less suspicions.

Mai was the first to arrive and John refused to tell her anything until the others had all arrived.

"Naru came back last night in case you wondered," she said to bait him.

John did not take it and attempted a diversion. Because it was John it wasn't a subtle distraction.

"Did he tease you about your harlequin manga again? I don't think there's anything wrong with what you read."

A compliment was not quite a worthy substitution for information, but Mai accepted it as she knew all was going to be revealed once they had all arrived. It proved to be a longer wait than anticipated due to Yasuhara's lecture running late.

"John-san, you can't hold back now. What do you know about Naru?" Michiru demanded.

The blond grinned widely at them.

"I know who he is and where he really is," he announced. "Follow me."

They all dutifully followed John through the entrance of the hospital and up five floors in the elevator. Mai was genuinely confused about where they were going. He couldn't be taking them to the morgue because that was on the ground floor.

John pointed to the right when they alighted out of the elevator.

Outside the ward that John was pointing out was a tall man with dark hair. His downcast eyes lit up when he spotted their group. He was smartly dressed in black trousers and a white shirt.

"This is Lin-san," John explained. "He had obtained permission for us to visit."

Mai was still confused although something sparked in her mind when she saw the name of the ward. It was intended for long time care patients.

Lin took over leading them and ushered them into a large private room further down the ward corridor. Mai gasped when she saw what or rather who was lying in the hospital bed.

It was Naru.

* * *

 **A/N: In case anyone is wondering there really is a line of Japanese Harlequin manga based on Harlequins romances written in English. They are unintentionally hilarious to read because they are so bad and cringy. The titles alone provide enough amusement.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Ghostly Hauntings:**

 **Chapter 5:**

How could this be? She looked again at the Naru lying in the hospital bed. He was attached to a number of machines and his face and arms were free of bandages. Despite the noise they had made entering the room plus Keiko's squeals, he hadn't stirred at all. He was also wearing plain blue pyjamas. From the patients they had passed Mai knew what the hospital issue pyjamas looked like. Naru had been here long enough to be wearing his own pyjamas.

He was in a coma.

That's why he was different to a normal ghost. He wasn't a proper ghost because he was still alive.

"Was he the boy I saw in the road last year?" She asked John. He appeared to have all the answers.

The mysterious Lin answered instead.

"14 months ago, Noll was brought to the hospital on the verge of death after being found in the road. He isn't dead, but he has never regained consciousness."

It was strange to think that she had been only a few metres away from him when it had happened.

"Recently he's been showing signs of deteriorating," Lin continued with a disaffected tone. "I'm not sure how much longer he can last."

Naru had told her that recently he had been finding it easier to stay longer. It wasn't because he was stronger, it was the opposite- he was slowly fading away from his real body. Mai began to feel a little teary.

"Taniyama-san," Lin said, drawing her out of her inner thoughts and providing a welcome distraction. "I heard from Brown-san that Noll is attached to you. Will he come here if you stay here?"

"He will," Mai assured him. "He only appears in the evening though and it's still the afternoon."

"In that case, I will explain everything to you in the meantime," the black haired man said and gestured for all of them to sit down.

They all sat down on some uncomfortable hospital issue chairs. John stayed standing and awkwardly cleared his throat.

"I should probably explain how I know who Noll is and how I found him."

Mai nodded encouragingly at him. It was a lie to say that she hadn't been wondering how he tracked down Naru so fast and obtained permission for them to visit.

"I wouldn't have worked out Noll was a nickname for Oliver so fast if I hadn't seen a message on my phone from a monk I've worked with before. That monk is an admirer of a famous English scientist called Dr. Oliver Davis. He is only famous in paranormal research circles so I'm sure none of you have heard of him."

They all shook their heads at him and John continued on.

"That brought the suggestion of Oliver to mind and I looked it up. Noll is sometimes a nickname for Oliver. I also know that Oliver Davis is rumoured to have gone missing a year ago. So I put two and two together. Our ghost Naru had to be Oliver Davis. I asked someone else for information and I was put in contact with Lin-san."

He gestured at Lin who took over. He still looked very serious, but he was less uncommunicative than before.

"I wouldn't usually share this information, however since you have seen his ghost and wish to investigate, I will tell you. Noll's brother was killed by a car in Japan and Noll came here with the intention of finding the murderer. It would appear that he did find the murderer."

The modus operandi sounded the same. Both had been hit by cars. Her assumption was proven wrong by Lin a few seconds later.

"As Taniyama-san knows the driver of the car in Noll's case did stop and participated in the investigation. He maintained that Noll came out of nowhere. The black box footage proves he is telling the truth."

Mai had read enough murder mysteries to know it happened.

"You mean someone threw or pushed him in front of the car?"

Lin nodded approvingly at her deduction.

"He was dropped off the footbridge. As you may remember there is one a metre away from where he was found. The footage shows Noll landing in front of him rather than being hit straight on."

Mai felt a shiver go down her spine when she pictured that. It was even worse knowing that she had been close by when it had happened and she had never seen a thing. For Naru it had been even worse.

"Was he conscious?" She asked fearfully.

Lin grimaced. "It was determined that there was head trauma from before the impact. He was unconscious and unaware-sadly he has remained the same."

The more she heard the more ill she felt. Naru didn't have much luck. Someone had wanted to kill him enough to knock him unconscious and then get him run over by a car.

"Do you have any suspects for the attempted murder?" Yasuhara asked.

Lin looked even more pained and tired.

"No," he sighed. "There isn't any clear footage from the traffic cameras-someone in black dropped him off the bridge and ran off. The angle doesn't show anything else. There aren't any suspects or even witnesses for that matter."

Mai felt a probing gaze and looked up to see Lin staring down at her. She had been a witness.

"Um, it was night time and I was tired so I wasn't paying much attention to the surroundings. I only noticed when I heard chaos in the road. That's when I saw Naru lying in the road."

That didn't satisfy the mysterious man.

"You might not think you noticed anything strange, but your subconscious mind may know a few things."

Mai shrunk back in her chair nervously. She was beginning to feel afraid of Lin. Yasuhara stepped in to help her.

"Mai has told us everything she knows, Lin-san. Besides, we don't even know how you are related to Davis-san."

The mysterious man smiled ruefully and spoke in a much calmer tone.

"You're right. I am Koujo Lin, I'm an omnouji that was accompanying Noll in Japan. I was and I still am employed by his parents through an organisation. They are in England and I stayed here to watch over Noll and investigate his accident. So far it's all been a dead end."

His speech made Mai realise how frustrating his situation was. Naru's condition wasn't improving and he had no clues to investigate so he had desperately wanted her to know something. It probably felt even worse to find out that Naru's spirit had been at a high school all this time.

"I am willing to help," she said brightly. "I'm not sure what I can do though."

Lin's eyes went over to the unconscious Naru.

"I thought that I could put you in a trance and ask you for some information. It was one of Noll's talents and he did give me a lesson."

Mai didn't feel reassured by that. A hypnotic trance did not sound pleasant and there were four other conscious people in the room. What if she admitted to something embarrassing in front of them?

The omnouji appeared to sense her unease.

"We can do it later," he told her and looked at the digital clock at Naru's bedside. "I've probably overloaded you all with information and it's getting on. I'll take you down to the canteen."

As if on cue Mai's stomach rumbled and she happily gave her support to the suggestion. Lin picked out a long table for the six of them in the seating area and went off to order for them. Keiko pounced on John once Lin was out of earshot.

"What's Naru actually famous for?" She demanded. "I feel too scared to ask Lin-san."

John nodded sagely. "I understand. Well the first significant thing is that Dr. Oliver Davis obtained his doctorate at 15."

A dead silence met that statement as they all thought of their academic achievements at 15. Mai was sure that the math test she had epically bombed had been when she was 15. She had never considered someone obtaining a doctorate that young.

"What's next?" Yasuhara asked weakly.

"He has very strong PK and psychometry skills," he paused when he saw the blank looks on their faces. "He can move objects with his mind and can see the history of objects when he touches them."

The whole day had been full of surprises. First, Naru was actually a coma patient rather than a dead teenager, then he was a famous English scientist and now he could move objects with his mind. This person had also spent two nights in her apartment and read her terrible manga.

"Um okay," Michiru said. "What does Lin-san do?"

John looked at her strangely. "You don't know what an omnouji does?"

Michiru looked offended. "I know we were all born during the occult boom in Japan, but we don't remember it. Obviously I know what the word means, I wanted to know the exact details."

"An omnouji has several abilities. They can create wards and perform exorcisms. Most significantly they have familiars under their control called Shiki. These Shiki can separate from them and spy for them or they can attack in their behalf. I don't know Lin-san well enough to know how many he has."

Mai jumped in her seat when the answer was spoken behind her.

"Six."

She turned to see Lin standing behind her with six tickets in his hand. Mai peered at them to find out what he had ordered for them. The tickets were all for Udon.

"Thank you," John said awkwardly. "Does anyone else have any questions?"

Yasuhara leaned forward eagerly. "Who did you contact to get Lin-san's contact information?"

"Masako Hara," John answered casually. "I know she goes to paranormal seminars and assumed she would know how to contact Oliver Davis in some manner."

Masako Hara was a familiar name for Mai and for all of them for that matter. Hara was a popular TV psychic and her shows always garnered strong ratings and interest. Mai was always in awe of her abilities, but had a feeling that she wouldn't like the girl in real life. Sometimes she came across as snobbish and snide.

* * *

After they had finished dinner Mai, Lin and John returned to Naru's hospital room whilst the others waited outside. It wasn't late enough for Naru to appear so there was time for the hypnosis.

John stood by the door and Lin dimmed the lights and arranged the chairs so he sat opposite Mai.

"Taniyama-san, please close your eyes and listen to my instructions. You will be safe and Brown-san is here for extra reassurance."

Mai complied and tried to feel less nervous about being put in a hypnotic trance.

"You are eyelids are feeling heavy and it's warm and comfortable. Imagine a bright light and focus on it."

There was a minute of silence in the room aside from the faint beeping of Naru's heart monitor. Then Lin started instructing her.

"Go back in your mind to the 19th of July in 2016. To the evening around 8pm to be precise. What are you doing?"

In a hypnotic state it was easy to find these memories.

"I'm walking out of school. It's the last day tomorrow and I've been tidying up my locker and desk and gossiping with the girls in my class. We finished later than intended and I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open."

"Okay. What did you see along the highway?"

"There are lots of cars. I guess it's the end of peak commute so the traffic is moving rapidly. There aren't many people on the pavement though. The nearest people are the two on the footbridge ahead of me."

There was something wrong about what she was seeing now that you thought more about it. One of the men wasn't walking, he was being half dragged by the other. Now he was being lifted up and over the edge.

"One of them pushed the other and he fell into the road. A car hit him and it threw him to the side. I stepped forward to see the damage and to call for help. The man runs down the footbridge and towards me and tells me he is a doctor. I have to keep other people away. People that were further behind me are trying to get close."

"…Did the 'doctor' do anything to the boy?"

"I'm facing the other way, but I looked back once and the doctor has the boy's head in his hands and the boy's eyes are closing. The doctor's hands are covered in blood. Then a lady who says she is a nurse comes running past and calls an ambulance."

"Thank you Taniyama-san. You can come back now," Lin said gently.

Mai snapped back to reality and everything hit her. The man who had attempted to murder Naru had been the same man that had claimed to be a doctor and had kept her away from him.

* * *

 **A/N: I would like to add some information for additional context and as trivia. Japan experienced an occult boom in the late 1980s and 1990s. This meant stories involving things like onmyōdō became popular. The Ghost Hunt light novel series began in the 1980s so it can be classed as being part of the occult boom.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Ghostly Hauntings:**

 **Chapter 6:**

From Lin's hypnotism they had a hint as to the identity of Naru's almost murderer. Mai was more shocked than the rest of them because the answer had been in her mind for over a year. If only she had been aware that the person she had believed was helping Naru had been the one trying to kill him.

She sat staring at the unconscious Naru whilst Lin called the others back in.

"Do you know who the 'doctor' was?" Yasuhara asked immediately once the three of them had been told.

Lin scowled. "He didn't go in the ambulance to the hospital. The nurse did and gave the staff there rundown of the injuries. That's why finding out who the 'doctor' was not essential because the nurse had provided all the information. She didn't ever find out his name."

"She probably saved Davis-san's life," John noted. "If she hadn't been there, the man would have been able to finish him off discreetly there and then."

It was a sobering thought. Naru had been on the brink of death that night. Mai looked over at Naru again. It could be said that he was dead because he was unable to wake up and she was seeing him as a ghost.

She checked the time and realised that he was due to appear.

"Lin-san, it's time for Naru to come," she called out.

The omnouji stilled momentarily and nodded.

Mai waited for Naru's spirit to make an appearance. She didn't have long to wait for a flicker of translucent white soon became visible and slowly formed the black clad Naru. They locked eyes as he opened his eyes.

"Hello Mai," he greeted and looked around. "Is this a hospital? There's someone new here as well."

Mai knew he meant Lin and waited for him to notice the person lying in the hospital bed. She saw the shock in his eyes and then the confusion.

"…Is that me...?" he asked wonderingly. "Am I not dead?"

For the second time that day Mai felt guilty. It was partially thanks to her that Naru was having to go through this.

Lin spoke for the first time. "No Noll, you are not dead. You've trapped your spirit halfway in this world and in a death state."

Naru's eyes turned on him.

"…Who are you?"

"I was supposed to be accompanying and looking after you on your parents' behalf. I seemed to have failed," Lin told him. "I'm Koujo Lin."

Naru took this in his stride fairly well. Mai didn't think the remainder of everything else they had found out would go down quite so well.

"I see. What is my real name then? What happened to me?"

Lin provided Naru with his real name and paused before telling him the answer to his second question.

"You were on the track of your brother's murderer. You must have found him because he came very close to killing you, it's luck that you are still alive," he stopped to amend his statement. "Your heart is still beating and you can breathe on your own. It's your mind that won't wake up."

Naru faltered and didn't speak for a minute. Mai was unable to read his face to deduce how he was feeling. He was completely closed off from her.

"…Do you know how I can get back to my body?" He asked quietly. "I still cannot remember anything."

Lin sighed. "I can't tell you. What I do know is that we need to find out soon, the doctors aren't expecting you to last another three months. You are fading out in this world."

It was then that Mai knew that Naru had realised why he was spending longer as a spirit in the living world. He must have assumed he was getting stronger. He drifted down and sat down on the bed next to his real body.

"There are signs of hope for you," the omnouji pointed out.

Mai stared at Lin in confusion. In all honesty, she hadn't seen any signs of Naru being able to wake up from his coma. She knew there were cases of people being in comas for multiple years and waking up, but if the doctors weren't holding out much hope, there wasn't much she could do.

"Firstly, you recognised your real body as being yourself. You should have no idea what you look like because you can't see yourself in a mirror," Lin explained.

Immediately Mai was thankful for having Lin on their side. She would have never noticed the significance of that. Judging from the looks on everyone elses' faces they would have missed it as well.

"There is also a significance to you being unsure if it was really you. It means that deep down you remember what your brother looks like," Lin continued. "You are also aware that your real name is Oliver from what I have heard."

That was something only Lin would have been able to notice so Mai didn't feel like she had been unobservant. Naru's brother must have looked a lot like him.

"You've also attached yourself to Taniyama-san here rather than anyone else you've seen over the past year. I think that you saw her for a moment by the road when you were barely conscious and wanted to reach out to her for help. Your subconscious recognised her when you encountered each other a few days ago and you could say that you have reached out to her successfully now."

Those words produced a blush from Mai and stare down from Naru. The spirit then transferred his gaze to her and she blushed further.

"I can't say I didn't wonder why I am able to find Mai," was all he said. "So, there is a potential that I can remember everything and find my way back to my body?"

"I believe there is," Lin said.

John was the first society member to speak up.

"I do as well. Most spirits do remember more than you so that can be what's stopping you from waking up."

The society president, Yasuhara stepped forward. "I feel like everything I knew about ghost before was inaccurate now, but I'm willing to do anything to help."

Michiru and Keiko also voiced their assent which left Mai. She raised her eyebrows when she noticed that everyone was looking at her.

"Of course I want to help Naru return to his body."

She also wanted to because some of the blame for his current state rested on her shoulders. If only she had thought more about what she seeing on the day of the accident.

Yasuhara cleared his throat.

"Now that we know who Noll is and where his real body is we need to return to one of the society's original questions. Why is Noll connected to that high school? Mai isn't connected to it and he didn't attend it either."

That was true. They hadn't questioned Naru's presence at the high school a lot before. Now that they knew he wasn't a high school student in Japan and he had been looking for his brother's murderer, it became all the more confusing. There wasn't an easy answer.

John turned to Lin for some information.

"Did Davis-san keep a diary of some sort that we could use?"

Lin smiled slightly despite the seriousness of the situation.

"Noll is not the type of person that would keep a diary. When I went into his hotel room that morning, when I was looking for him I found a note saying that he was going out investigating a lead. That was suspicious because we usually investigated together and he would normally text me first."

Yasuhara filled in the blank. "Do you think that he knew it was going to be dangerous and that you wouldn't approve so he went without you?"

The omnouji nodded. "Exactly. There was always a risk associated with Naru doing the investigating. You see it was likely that if Naru encountered the murderer he would certainly be killed. To put it simply, there's a very strong resemblance between Naru and his brother."

Mai understood. If Naru looked closely like his brother, the previous victim, the murderer might have thought that he hadn't finished him off properly and would finish the task. Perhaps that was what had happened.

"Did any of your leads connect to that high school?" Keiko asked.

"No. I have no idea why Naru's ghost is attached to that location. He could have gone there on that day, but I can't say why and who he went to see."

It was clear that Lin had no clues about the high school.

"How far is the high school from that accident site?" Michiru asked. "From what Mai-chan said it sounds closer to her high school than mine."

Lin walked over to his briefcase on top of small table in the corner and opened it to produce a map. The map had a bright red circle on it and Mai recognised it as being the road that the attempted murder occurred on.

"It's mostly in between the two schools, although Taniyama-san's all girl's school is ten minutes away and the other one is a little further," he pointed to something else in the map. "There is car park a few metres away from the accident. I believe that the murderer transported Noll's unconscious body by car and then half carried him a few metres and then pushed him off the bridge."

It did sound plausible. Then again, any theory would sound plausible based on the lack of facts they had about the case. Surely Lin and Naru must have known more to be investigating in Japan in the first place.

Yasuhara had reached the same conclusion as her.

"What lines were you investigating on before Noll disappeared?" The society president asked.

"Noll's brother died in and hit and run. Normally we wouldn't have known this because his body has never been found. However Noll is gifted."

John filled in the gap. "He used psychometry."

It took a moment for Mai to remember what psychometry was from John's explanation earlier.

"That's right. Noll used one his brother's shirts and saw his death. Our first priority was to find his body-all Noll could tell was that it was dropped into a lake. Then Noll switched to wanting to find the murderer instead. He must have performed it again and seen something he hadn't noticed before."

If Mai had understood correctly using psychometry would mean that Naru would have experienced his brother's death and repeating the psychometry would have meant that he had gone through it again. It wasn't nice to think about it.

She looked around for him and jumped a little when she realised that Naru had been standing next to her chair the whole time. He looked down at her with an amused look on his face.

"Mai, you should pay more attention to your surroundings," he teased lightly.

Mai flushed and focused her attention on Lin again. The omnouji was staring at her and Naru strangely. Maybe Naru had been very different in real life. Seeing his ghost act different was probably very disorientating for Lin.

"I will see what information I can get about that high school from my Police contact," Lin informed them. "Noll, where do you want to go? You can stay here with your body and I can tell you about your real self. Or you can go with Taniyama-san."

"I want to stay with Mai," was Naru's answer.

* * *

 **A/N: As a reply to the anonymous reviewer who asked about the nurse: she is not Ayako.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Ghostly Hauntings:**

 **Chapter 7:**

Lin had been disappointed by Naru's refusal. Mai could tell from the look on his face. Perhaps he had wanted to share childhood anecdotes with him and show him photos. Naru was currently sitting opposite her at the kotatsu. He was in the process of proof reading a draft for a paper that was due in a fortnight.

"Wrong use of 'their'," he said. "You could be more concise here. Other than that, I think you should pass."

"Thanks, Naru," she said cheerfully. "I always need someone to make sure that I'm making sense."

"I'll do it anytime," he answered.

Mai picked up the paper and looked curiously at Naru.

"Why didn't you want to stay at the hospital? Lin-san could have told you lots of things about yourself. He might even tell you enough that your memory returns."

Naru didn't answer immediately. He stared at the tabletop for a few moments before speaking.

"It doesn't feel comfortable there and Lin is a complete stranger to me even if he knew me before the accident. I only really feel at ease with you."

Mai beamed at the compliment. Naru really did enjoy the time they spent together. She hadn't been sure because most of the time they discussed his spiritual state and being constantly reminded that he was a trapped in the living world as a ghost couldn't be that pleasant for him.

"I still wonder why you always end up at the school first," she mused out loud.

Much to her surprise Naru provided the most sensible answer.

"Because that's where the initial attack happened. You told me that there was a head injury from before the car accident and I looked unconscious. There is no other explanation that makes sense."

Mai could understand his point. There should be any link to a Japanese high school in normal circumstances. If he had been knocked unconscious there and had only come to briefly on the road, the school would be the last place where he had been living and breathing. It was the last place where he had been fully alive.

"I see. You must have found the murderer there and been attacked there. Now the question is how is the murderer of your brother tied to the school? We can investigate it."

Naru put a damper on her enthusiasm promptly.

"If the person was a final year male student that has left, we are in trouble. It's been over a year and that school isn't exactly small."

"Well, they would have to have a driving license to um, hit your brother," she noted awkwardly.

The spirit shot her a faintly pitying look.

"What are the chances that he wasn't hit by an illegal driver without a license? If they reported it, they would be penalised for driving without a license."

Mai pouted. She knew that Naru had made some very good points. There just seemed to be no way of narrowing down a school full of suspects. It could be a teacher, it could have been a graduated student, it could have been the caretaker, it could have been the school doctor.

"How are we going to find the murderer?" she groaned.

* * *

When Mai stumbled to the toilet in the middle of the night she received a fright when she saw Naru sitting in the armchair reading. She felt even more horrified when she saw what he was reading. The spirit raised an eyebrow at her when he noticed her.

"This one is different. It's a German divorced millionaire. Finally some variety," he commented.

Mai cringed. She needed to get rid of those harlequins. Then again Naru appeared to be entertained by them.

"Mai."

She was jerked out of her in return thoughts by sound of her name.

"Yes?"

"Do you remember what the man who claimed to be a doctor looked like?" He asked gently. "You are the best hope we have."

The night of the accident had been dark and gloomy. The man had rushed past her so fast she had never caught a good look at him. She had stupidly accepted what he had said and followed his instructions. How was she going to know that he was lying about being a doctor?

"I really don't remember. I never thought of the accident again until now."

Naru appeared to understand.

"My bet is that it really an adult man," he paused when he saw her puzzled look. "You accepted him as a figure of authority. If it was a high school student even a final year student, you would have never believed him. You were a high school student at the time, you would be able to unconsciously tell that he was one."

That did make sense to her. It was true that she would have seriously questioned a high school student claiming to be a doctor and giving her instructions. Naru was right.

"Do you think it was a teacher then?"

"Well, the man was authoritative and you recognised it so he must be a teacher," the spirit answered. "That narrows down the suspect pool."

"Do you have an early lecture tomorrow?" Naru asked suddenly.

"No, I don't have one until the afternoon. I was thinking about seeing Lin-san in the morning. Why?"

Naru looked faintly embarrassed and she was confused until he made his request.

"Will you stay with me until I disappear? It's lonely being a ghost."

When she heard that she softened immediately and pinched herself to ward off her sleepiness. It was unusual to hear Naru request something like that. Whilst it was true that she had only known him for a few days, she could feel that it wasn't something that he would usually ask.

* * *

Lin had the same reaction when she told him the next day. She had woken up on the sofa around nine in the morning with no Naru around. There had been a blanket on top of her though.

"That doesn't sound like Noll," he commented with a trace of amusement.

Currently it was just the two of them in Naru's room. The other society members had been unavailable to come in the morning.

"His ghost is intriguing," he continued on. "Noll was always unsociable and a little cold at times before his brother's death. After his death he became even worse. In a way, it's refreshing to see his ghost acting completely different."

Mai could picture a cold living Naru perfectly well based on how he reacted to Keiko and Michiru. Perhaps having no memories of his past had made Naru a happier person. It was a difficult matter to take a side on.

"Noll is the kindest to you and he seems to genuinely enjoy your company," Lin observed. "He turned me down yesterday."

She could detect any bitterness in his tone, just amusement. He wasn't offended.

"I'm sorry about that. Can you tell me about Oliver Davis so I can tell Naru?" She asked.

The omnouji glanced over at the unconscious Naru before launching into a description.

"Noll was actually born in Japan and ended up in an orphanage. He displayed early signs of PK and was eventually adopted alongside his brother Eugene by an English couple. He lived in England up until the death of his brother."

Mai took mental notes on the details. She could feel that Lin had subtly left out some details though. As someone whose parents had died she had immediately picked up on the lack of an explanation regarding the orphanage.

"What as Eugene-san doing here then if they lived in England?" She asked.

"He was doing some research on the occult culture in Japan to present to the Society for Psychical Research. Noll was in regular contact with him and one day he didn't return to the hotel. I was sent here with Noll to investigate. We went through Eugene's belongings and Noll used one of his shirts for psychometry. Whatever he saw led to his near death."

Mai grimaced. If only there was a way they could see exactly what Naru had seen of his brother's death. This reminded her of Naru's deduction from the night before.

"Naru thinks the murderer is a teacher from the school because I saw him as a figure of authority and followed his instructions without questioning them."

Lin simply looked at her. "I had already thought of that. It's good to see that Noll's spirit is as intelligent as him though."

Mai flushed. She knew from his observations from the previous day that Lin was sharp. Naru's deduction admittedly been very simplistic.

"I've requested some staff records from the school through a police contact so we can go through them and see if you recognise any of them," he told her. "By the way Taniyama-san, I did have something I wanted to talk to you in private about."

Her heart skipped a beat. If it was something that couldn't be said in front of the others it couldn't be good.

"I would like you to know that I do not hold any blame towards you for believing that man was helping Naru after the accident. You couldn't have known what had happened so please do not feel guilty. If you weren't there, the same things would have occurred."

It was true that it had been weighing on her mind. Naru's spirit hadn't shown any signs of ill will towards her over it, but it had still bothered her nonetheless. If only she had paid more attention at the time. She also felt guilty that she couldn't remember what he looked like.

"Thank you, Lin-san," she answered. "It's good to hear."

* * *

Mai returned to the hospital in the evening to find the other members of the society still in Naru's room. She hadn't expected them all to be willing to stay in the hospital with no entertainment especially considering they were all entering a busy period for university work.

It made more sense when she noticed that Yasuhara had his laptop out, John's head was buried in a reference book whilst Keiko and Michiru had brought their tablets. Lin himself was absent from the room.

"Hi Mai," Yasuhara waved. "You haven't missed anything, Davis-san is still in a coma."

Mai shot him a sour glance for that comment.

"Where's Lin?" She asked.

His briefcase and laptop were not present like they had been for her past two visits indicating he had intended to be gone for a while.

"He's gone to pick up something important for you to look at." John informed her.

Mai suspected that the something important was the school personnel files that he had mentioned earlier. As if on cue Lin walked in through the door that had just closed behind her. He was holding a large file in his hands.

"You are all here, good," he said and strode over to the table. "I have copies of the staff photos showing all teachers at the high school including current and teachers that were there at the time of the accident. I've also contacted the nurse and asked her for a physical description of the man she saw."

As he spoke he spread them all out on the table. There were quite a mixture of class photos with homeroom teachers, ID photos and then a few group staff photos.

"Please take as much time as you want," Lin said and gestured for her to join him.

Mai pictured the scene in her mind. The man had been normal weight, so that should eliminate the skinny looking male teacher and the two overweight ones. Then she paused. That was then, his weight could have changed. Had he been tall?

He had been above her height, however she wasn't the tallest person either. He had been a little taller than Naru so she confidently covered up any short teachers and overly tall teachers in the group photos with small post it notes.

Hair colour wasn't a confident indicator either because it could have been dyed. Glasses weren't a reliable criterion for removal either because he could have been wearing contact lenses. She sighed, she wasn't getting anywhere. If only it had been in bright daylight.

She was going to have to go with her senses. A few minutes later she had narrowed down three possible faces.

"It's between these three teachers," she announced.


	8. Chapter 8

**Ghostly Hauntings:**

 **Chapter 8:**

Lin came over to join her and handed her a red pen. She dutifully circled the faces in red and showed the photo to the omnouji who rifled through the staff files to match up the faces with their headshots.

"The first one is Urado, the second is Matsuyama and the third is Ariade…" he informed her.

Three suspects. It was like a detective Conan filler murder case. The difference was that Naru wasn't genuinely dead.

"Are they still teachers at that school?" Yasuhara called out.

Lin checked their files again. "Two are currently still teaching there."

The four of them came over to see who the suspects are.

"Ew, I remember Urado-sensei," Keiko cringed. "He was my biology teacher. He was obsessed with trying to look young and he got plastic surgery during the holidays once-that's why he looks younger than he really is."

"Do you remember the other two?" Michiru asked.

"Ariade-sensei was a trainee teacher for a while before he qualified and one of my friends had the other teacher for homeroom."

"They all look to be around the same age," John said. "Of course, we know about Urado now…"

The three of them had black hair and looked to be in their late thirties to early forties. None of them looked like murderers, they just looked like they had no sense of humour and would be no nonsense teachers.

"How are we going to investigate them?" Yasuhara asked. "You can go the Police because Mai is an eyewitness and she hasn't used anything psychic to identify them."

Mai could understand him perfectly. The Police would be able to interview them properly and collect evidence legally. None of them would be able to that without getting in legal trouble later on. She didn't want a prison sentence for breaking and entering or something even worse. Although they had done exactly that when they had gone looking for the ghost. Mai was trying not to think about that part.

"Brown-san, that is true. The stumbling block is something else. It was Noll that used paranormal abilities to find the murderer first. That said, I do know someone that can help us investigate the three suspects. She is a Police officer in section one that used to work in England for the SPR. Noll knows her as well, she was his mentor until she decided she liked the investigative part more and wanted to move back to her home country," Lin explained. "She can do the part that we can't do."

Yet again Mai was grateful for Lin's presence. He was the adult they could rely on. Well, they were all adults, but not proper adults. John appeared to be thinking of the same thing.

"If we need some more adults that can investigate without seeming suspicious, I know a monk and a priestess. I met them on a case a while back," he said and pulled out his phone. "I have a photo of them."

Mai let a smile slip when she saw how much they did not meet the criteria for non-suspicious. The man that she assumed to be a monk had brown long hair tied back in a ponytail instead of a completely bald head. In fact, he looked more like a rock star than a monk. The priestess had dyed red hair, matching nails and was wearing too much make up. A priestess as far as Mai knew, was not someone that would be caught dying their hair.

"Um, John-san, do you know what a monk should look like?" Michiru asked awkwardly.

"I know they aren't the most conventional looking priest and priestess, but they get the job done," he paused. "After some bickering."

It wasn't that they doubted John's intelligence, he had been the one that had deduced Naru's true identity and brought them to his body after all. He just had a lot of trust in people that didn't always look worthy of it.

"If we need some extra people, I will let you know," Lin assured him.

John really did have some unexpected friends, Mai reflected. He even knew Masako Hara. An idea to her mind suddenly.

"Can we get Masako Hara to communicate with Naru's brother and ask him who killed him?" She suggested.

"No, he didn't see anything significant," Lin dismissed it immediately. "Or at least Noll told me that and I believe him because of the nature of the accident. There might have been some small detail he noticed the second time round, but I don't think talking to Gene would do much. Additionally, he appears to have passed straight on, she wouldn't be able to reach out to him anyway."

Mai felt a little disappointed, but she could see that he was correct in his criticism.

"That said, you have given me an idea," the omnouji said.

He refused to say anything further on the topic when pressed and they all soon gave up. Mai passed the time by helping the others with their proofreading and suggesting places to find information. She had gained a head start on her work by having Naru proofread it the day before.

Naru soon appeared in the same way as he had before. Now everyone was used to his appearance and didn't bat an eyelid when he arrived. They all just greeted him and returned to their work.

Right after he had appeared, Mai was pulled into a disagreement between Yasuhara and Keiko over which connective word would be best to for use in the penultimate paragraph which left Naru alone with Lin.

"Do you enjoy living with Taniyama-san?" The omnouji asked with a shade of awkwardness.

Naru winked at Mai. "She has good reading material lying around."

Lin looked extremely confused and then appeared to decide that he really didn't want to know the full details. This was good because Mai didn't want to have to explain it.

"Taniyama-san has identified some potential suspects from photos," Lin said. "Do you feel like you recognise anything?"

He brought over the circled photos and Naru took hold of them to have a look. His eyes rested on Urado and then he raised his eyebrows.

"Plastic surgery?"

Mai nodded and then took a look for herself. Now that she knew about it, Urado's face did look plastic. Naru was just more observant and faster on the uptake than her.

"I do feel a little familiarity with them," he admitted. "I can't tell you which one it is though."

As he spoke Lin's phone started to vibrate and the omnouji carefully drew it out of his pocket.

"I'm going outside to take the call," he said and hurried out of the hospital room after taking back the photos from Naru.

Mai's posture slumped. She was disappointed that she couldn't narrow down the suspect any further. If only she had remembered more about him.

"Don't berate yourself," Naru said softly. "Narrowing down the suspects to three is not bad progress. Lin has been here for a year and has never found anything."

Mai frowned. "I know…"

Naru's pale finger flicked her forehead and she winced. For a flick from a ghost it was painful.

"Stop dwelling over it. Investigating them will probably bring up some evidence."

Mai rubbed the painful area on her forehead and sighed. Naru was right. She couldn't do anymore right now. It was Lin's turn now to start investigating the three teachers that she had identified.

The man in question returned 10 minutes later looking to be slightly optimistic. Mai couldn't be sure because she hadn't known him for very long and he had a poker face most of the time, but she could sense that he had more hope than he had before.

"That was the nurse. She agrees with Taniyama-san's identification after seeing the photos. It has to be one of those three," he announced with a note of triumph in his voice.

Mai smiled in relief. She had done a good job after all.

"It's not that I didn't believe you," Lin said to her later on. "We needed a second opinion."

* * *

She didn't feel grudgeful and she went to bed feeling relieved instead of worried. They had made progress and she had made an important contribution. Her body was tired from the long day, but her mind was not so she lay awake in bed looking at the ceiling.

What had Naru seen during the psychometry? Could it be that he had run into the murderer by pure chance instead? Why had he gone to the school that day?

The glowing numbers of her alarm clock caught her eye in the darkness and she groaned. It was two in the morning and she hadn't fallen asleep yet. She also had a lecture at 9am.

It was time to see Naru. She had quietly removed the harlequins and replaced them with her more serious reading material earlier yesterday and she was intrigued to see his reaction. It appeared that Naru had gone for the historical books first. He was midway through a thick book on British crime and punishment through the ages when she poked her head out of her bedroom door.

"Having fun?" she asked, hoping to surprise him for once.

"A little," he replied, sounding like he had been expecting her at any time. "Having trouble sleeping?"

"Unfortunately. I can't stop thinking about everything," she said and plopped herself down on the sofa next to the ghost.

If this case went on for longer than she was expecting it was going to start affecting her studies. Having Naru as her proof-reader was an advantage admittedly, but she needed time to collect the information and she never felt like doing any work when she had a sleepless night.

Naru was silent as if he was trying to work out exactly what to say to her.

"I can read you something to relax you," he offered.

That made Mai feel sad inside. The last person to read her a story at bedtime had been her mother. No one had done that ever since.

"I'll read a harlequin aloud," he added. "I'll even do accents."

Mai snorted at the image of Naru reading out the romantic lead's lines with their appropriate accent. It would be funny to see the look on Lin's face when she told him about it afterwards.

"It's very tempting, but no," she decided. "I will laugh too loudly and wake the neighbours up."

"I'll tell you all about capital punishment then," he said. "I already knew most of this and you have read this book before, but it can be some light bedtime reading."

Mai felt too embarrassed to admit that she had never reached the end of the book. If she remembered right, she hadn't even got halfway before giving up. It hadn't really been high school Mai reading material. She was sure that it had been a present from a teacher at her high school.

"The death penalty was completely abolished in 1998 although the death penalty for murder was previously abolished in 1965 for Great Britain," he started.

His voice was good for reading aloud. As he continued Mai's eyelids began to feel heavy and her head soon found itself resting on Naru's shoulder.

Her vision slowly went black and Naru's face momentarily appeared in front of her. Then his face faded into a scene of a quiet country road with a mountain in the distance. She was walking down the road at a crisp pace when she heard a car approach.

She turned to check how far away it was and realised that it was speeding towards her at a very fast pace. The impact of the car hitting her was mercifully short and she only realised it when she fell to the ground.

Distantly she heard footsteps and the lower half of someone's legs came into view. Whoever it was wearing jeans. She waited for them to call an ambulance when they gasped abruptly turned and walked back to the car.

The sound of an engine starting up was audible and then the car moved towards her again. Her vision exploded into green and she felt herself being manhandled into a small confined space.

The sound of shrill beep dragged her out of her dream and she woke up to find herself on the sofa with her alarm clock next to her.

What had she just dreamt about?


	9. Chapter 9

**Ghostly Hauntings:**

 **Chapter 9:**

Mai took a while to orientate herself in reality. That dream had been startlingly realistic and she still couldn't get her head around it. It also left her with a few tears in her eyes. In her sleepy and emotional state, she didn't link the dream with what she knew about Naru's brother's death.

It was clear that Naru had taken her alarm clock from her bedroom and left it on the sofa next to her so she would wake up on time. It was considerate of Naru.

Lin would find it amusing when she told him. He looked like he needed cheering up. Spending over a year in Japan fruitlessly looking for leads on the deaths of both Davis children could not be enjoyable for him. The true significance of her dream only dawned on her now.

Hadn't Eugene Davis died in a car accident?

Lin had mentioned them both dying in the same way. Of course, Naru wasn't dead, but the implicated link was clear. The murderer had chosen the same weapon both times.

She knew she hadn't seen the attempted murder of Naru because her dream had depicted an accident in the middle of nowhere on a sunny afternoon or possibly morning. The car accident involving Naru had been in the evening.

Was it Eugene's death she had experienced?

Lin hadn't given them much information about Eugene's death so it could possibly be what she had experienced. The problem was that a dream wasn't conclusive evidence and she had no prior experience with cognitive dreams. It could merely be a coincidence.

She chewed her toast thoughtfully. It was worth asking Lin for some more details to see if they corresponded with her dream. If they matched she wasn't sure what she would do. It could mean that she was psychic. Would that mean her dream about marrying an alive Naru would come true?

She blushed and hastily finished her toast. There was no use dwelling on that dream. She checked the time and decided that she had a spare ten minutes before she had to run for the bus. Lin should be awake and available to talk at this time.

Lin had provided her with a contact number the day before in case she remembered anything suddenly. It had seemed like a useful thing to have. Now she was glad of it because she hadn't been planning to go to the hospital at all because of her timetable.

"Good morning, Taniyama-san," Lin greeted when he accepted the call. "I was not expecting a call from you."

"I'm in a rush right now so I can't explain why I'm asking this, but: can you tell me about what Naru knew about Eugene Davis' death?"

There was a silence over the line and she could tell that Lin was surprised by her blunt question.

"He was hit by a car when he was walking on a country road. Noll said there was a mountain nearby. The driver of the car got out and looked at him. Then he was hit by the car again and this time he died. The vision turned green- that means the body has died-"

"Ah!" Mai exclaimed.

It matched with what she had dreamt. The details matched. The location was the same and so were the events. There wasn't much to doubt. She just had to make sure that everything was the same.

"Was it in the daytime and was the driver wearing jeans…?"

The sound of paper rustling was apparent over the line and then Lin answered.

"…Yes. That matches with Noll's transcript."

Mai didn't know what to say in reply. It couldn't be possible for her to have seen it. Could she still be dreaming? She dismissed that easily, the nervousness she was feeling was too realistic for a dream.

"Taniyama-san, may I come and visit you?" Lin requested.

Did she want to talk to Lin about her dream right now? She still hadn't recovered from the shock. How was she going to explain that she had randomly dreamt of Eugene Davis' death and the dream had been accurate?

"I have lectures that I can't miss today. I have a free hour at lunchtime though," she said hesitantly. "I wasn't planning to visit the hospital tonight."

They made arrangements to meet in the coffeeshop that was down the road from the university at lunchtime. Mai didn't want to meet Lin on campus in case she encountered any of the other society members. She didn't want anyone else to know about her dream yet.

* * *

Her morning lectures provided a good distraction from her dream related worries. The lecturer talked so fast that all her focus was on making sure she took full notes and didn't miss anything. The course she had come to university to study was Japanese History. Mai wasn't sure what she wanted to do after university yet. All she knew at the moment was that she wanted to help Naru find his way back to his body.

The lecture ended just before 12 o'clock and Mai made her way off the campus to the coffeeshop. Lin was already sitting down with a glass of water.

"I only have an hour before I have to go back," she reminded him.

The waitress arrived to give her a glass of water and to take their orders. Mai relaxed a little when she had a cup of hot chocolate in front of her.

"Taniyama-san, are you ready to explain?" Lin asked.

Mai related the events of her dream to Lin. The more details she added the more puzzled Lin became. When she had finished he took out a notebook and opened it to show her Naru's description of his brother's death.

"It's exactly the same…" Lin said. "I'm not sure how though."

Last night she had dropped off to sleep with her head on Naru's shoulder. Did having contact with him cause her to have the dream? She asked Lin.

"This is not my field to be fair," Lin answered cautiously. "Have you ever dreamt of anything that happened in the future or something in the past that you later found out about?"

"No more than the average person," she answered.

It was true. Her dreams had never been anything spectacular. She had always felt a little envious of people that could have a dream and then remember all the details the next day at school. One girl in her homeroom class had always regaled them with dramatic retellings of her dreams. Mai had suspected that she was making it up most of the time though.

She was very unwilling to mention anything about her first ever dream involving Naru. There was no way she was going to tell his bodyguard.

"I have been interested in observing you, Taniyama-san," Lin commented. "When this is all over we can test you properly."

That line coming from Lin sounded mildly terrifying. 'Tests' could also vary greatly. Blood tests had better not be one of the aforementioned tests. Mai hated needles and blood. Math tests also produced the same reaction.

She decided it would be best to change the subject before Lin could ask her any more about her dreams.

"Have you found anything out about the subjects?" she asked.

Lin took a delicate sip of his tea.

"A little. Urado is 60 years old and near retirement, Matsuyama is 40 and Ariade is 42," he informed her. "Urado has a drunk driving charge on his record from when he was in his twenties and countless plastic surgeries. Matsuyama is clean whilst Ariade has some assaults from his teenage years on file."

Mai had been expecting alibi and car related information, but it was good to know other miscellaneous criminal information about the suspects. She finished off the rest of her hot chocolate and realised that Lin was subjecting her to an intense stare.

"Yes?"

She self-consciously checked for froth round her mouth and found nothing.

"One of the stumbling points is that we don't know what the car looked like. Noll gave us the colour and didn't inform me about anything else. Do you know the model of the car? It would be helpful."

Now this was not the question to ask Mai. Cars were not something she had ever had any interest in mainly because they were out of her affordable range. She tried to think about it analytically.

It had been red. That did not narrow the spectrum of cars at all.

It had looked sleek and new so it had to have been a model that came out in the year the accident occurred. The car hadn't been a sports car though. Despite her lack of interest in cars she could recognise a sports car.

Mai took out of phone. It was time to do some research. Lin understood what she was doing and didn't disturb her for the twenty minutes it took her to find the car.

"It's this one," she held out her phone to show him.

"Thank you," he said. "Having you around has been helpful in so many ways."

She beamed at the compliment. It was nice to feel appreciated. This case had allowed to experience feelings that she hadn't had a chance to before.

"Noll is equally bad with cars in case you wondered. He was never the stereotypical teenage boy," he paused. "Noll said the driver was wearing jeans. He couldn't give a proper description- he was terrible with fashion. Can you give any more information?"

Mai stifled a smile at the thought of Naru in skinny jeans and went back in her memory. The jeans had not been covered in tears which was the fashion right now. Yasuhara was fond of wearing jeans that had more skin showing than they covered.

"They were well fitted jeans, although they weren't form fitting like skinny jeans. They weren't the jeans I would associate with a middle aged high school teacher."

Lin noted it down seriously.

"Thank you again. I will let you get back to university now. When are you free to go to the hospital?"

"Tomorrow evening," Mai promised.

Hopefully she wouldn't have any more disturbingly psychic dreams before then. She didn't want to feel that she was changing into someone that would have dreams like that on a regular basis. After securing a promise from her, Lin paid for her hot chocolate and gave her encouragement with her university work.

* * *

Naru did not turn up until she was back in her apartment making dinner. Or rather boiling the water for her instant ramen. Mai preferred to just eat ramen after a late lecture.

The ghost picked up the packaging and raised his eyebrows at the nutritional information.

"It's not healthy," he chided.

Mai had heard this all before so she simply shrugged.

"It tastes good and it's quick. You'll change your mind when you taste it."

"I doubt it," Naru scoffed. "What are your plans for tonight?"

If Naru was alive and he was any other boy Mai would have taken that as fishing for a date. Because it was Naru she took it at face value.

"I'm watching my favourite show," she informed him and then remembered that she was talking to a teenager with a doctorate. "I don't think you're going to like it."

Naru had already settled himself on the sofa before she had finished speaking and he narrowed his eyes at her, clearly suspicious of her TV preferences. It took him a mere five minutes to start picking holes in it.

"Physics don't work like that," he sighed.

Mai rolled her eyes at him. She didn't mind particularly, it was nice to have someone to watch TV with. Sometimes it felt too lonely.

The ghost opened his mouth a few moments later to announce another plot hole when Mai's phone which was on the kotatsu, began buzzing violently. She picked it up and noticed that it was Lin calling.

"Hello?" she said.

"We've found the murderer," Lin announced. "Can you get everyone to come to the hospital?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Ghostly Hauntings:**

 **Chapter 10:**

All it took to gather the other members of the ghost hunting society was to post a cryptic message in the group chat about finding the murderer. Mai had never seen anyone respond so fast in the group chat before. A normal post took a few hours to get everyone to reply.

Half an hour later she alighted off the bus outside the hospital to find Yasuhara and John waiting at the bus stop for her. The bus ride had been torture for her because she had been thinking of the case the whole time and it felt like the longest bus ride of her life.

"The other two are five minutes away," Yasuhara informed her.

The president of their society looked like he wanted to rush up to Naru's hospital room without Keiko and Michiru. Mai did want to find out who the murderer was as soon as possible, but she could probably wait another five minutes. Probably.

Fortunately for them Keiko and Michiru arrived on another bus a few minutes later and they walked into the hospital together. Lin had cleared them for visiting at the reception earlier so they weren't delayed. When they entered the private room, they found an extra person they hadn't been expecting to see.

The woman was dressed plainly yet smartly in a white blouse and grey trousers and had dark pink hair.

"Which one of you is Taniyama-san?" she asked the moment she saw them.

Mai stepped forward unsurely. "It's me…"

The stranger looked her over and then grinned. "You are perfect for him!"

Mai had no idea how to react to that comment and looked at Lin for help. The omnouji stood up and laid his hand on the strange woman's shoulder.

"Mori-san, your actions aren't befitting of your profession," he warned her.

The lady nodded and then bowed.

"I'm Madoka Mori from section one of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. I used to work for the same organisation as Lin-san," she explained.

Now Mai remembered Lin telling them about having a Police contact. She hadn't quite pictured that contact being anything like Madoka. Had she meant that she was perfect for Naru? Who else could 'him' refer to?

Michiru cleared her throat loudly. "When are you going to say who the murderer is?"

In all honesty Mai had been expecting Yasuhara to crack first. Then again even Yasuhara was too polite to ask that in the presence of a Police officer. Only Michiru would have the confidence to ask outright.

"Before I say who it is, please note that he cannot be arrested yet because of insufficient evidence," Lin told them.

Only Mai understood the true significance of that. She hadn't mentioned her dream to anyone else yet. Lin must have told Madoka to find out which teacher had owned the car she had identified in her dream.

"It's Urado," Madoka announced without any further ado.

It didn't feel surprising to Mai. Perhaps her subconscious had identified him as a murderer before her conscious brain had and that was why she didn't feel like it was an unexpected revelation.

"He fits in a psychological manner," Lin added and glanced her.

Mai realised that he must be referring to details from her dream and didn't say anything aloud. Instead she wondered what aspects he was referencing.

"Ew, he's creepy enough to be the murderer," Keiko griped.

Madoka picked up a thick file.

"He did own the car that ran over Eugene Davis. Interestingly he sold it shortly after. He left the high school that he was teaching in at the time and now teaches at a cram school," she said. "Lin-san, what's next?"

Mai realised the shaky legal ground they were on. They knew about the car because of her dream and there was no physical evidence of her dream. Urado couldn't legally be arrested yet.

"Use Taniyama-san as a witness and pull him in for questioning," Lin suggested. "Ask about where he was at the time of Noll's accident. Perhaps use a photo of the brothers to get a reaction from him."

Madoka winced. "That's not really going to hold up legally. I can question him, but he will have to go free after because there's no chance of obtaining a warrant."

"I'm not sure what we can do then," Lin sighed. "I'm not fond of the idea of all of us ending up in trouble with Japanese Police."

Naru's voice came from behind Mai causing her to jump in surprise.

"I say we scare him enough and force a confession."

Mai had travelled by herself on the bus whilst Naru had remained in her apartment waiting until he disappeared so he could reappear at the hospital. She waited for Lin to protest over the idea and a protest didn't come.

"It is something to consider," he agreed. "Your appearance last year was enough to scare him into attempting to murder you. Seeing your ghost would certainly get a reaction out of him."

Madoka was staring intently at Naru.

"It's good to see you again, Noll," she grinned. "You seem nicer now."

Now Mai was really wondering what Naru had been like before the accident. Lin had said he was closed off, but Madoka had noticed a change by just looking at him and hearing him speak once. The contrast between his former self and ghost version had to be vast.

"Who are you?" Naru asked bluntly.

Madoka pouted. "Maybe you haven't changed that much. I was your mentor in England."

"I see," was all Naru said.

The conversation came to an awkward halt at that point. Naru clearly didn't remember Madoka at all and wanted to get to business. Mai couldn't blame him, if she was in the same position she would definitely want to know who had tried to kill her straightaway.

"It's Urado," she told him. "He owned the car used to hit your brother. That's all we really know so far."

Naru frowned unsurely. Mai couldn't tell why. Perhaps he was not satisfied with their lack of solid evidence.

"Admittedly if I came to you in the past with evidence like that you would said something rude to me," Lin said. "Then you would have told me not to talk to you again until I had hard evidence."

Madoka snorted. "Noll was always lacking in common courtesy. He's right though. We need to mention the other evidence."

Lin took over. "Urado has an obsession about looking young as we know from the plastic surgery."

Keiko raised her hand hesitantly like she was still in a high school class. It was fitting as Urado had actually been her high school teacher.

"He also tried to dress young," she contributed. "In tight trousers. Everyone used to make jokes about him."

The jeans. Mai was beginning to see how everything fitted together. Those jeans weren't the staple of an ageing high school teacher, they were the jeans of someone that wanted to be seen as young. The choice of car also added to it.

"Anything else?" Madoka asked.

Keiko screwed up her face in thought.

"He liked red…"

The car had been red. It had to be Urado.

"The car came straight at Eugene Davis and didn't stop. The driver also thought the best thing to do would be to run him over again and dump his body somewhere. That is hardly the action of a sensible individual," Madoka carried on. "The answer to that is obvious."

The answer flashed through Mai's brain. Lin had told her the previous day about his drunk driving charge.

"He was drunk!"

Lin nodded at her approvingly and she looked at everyone else. They were all staring at Madoka with a mixture of expressions on their faces. Mai realised too late that they hadn't known about the murderer running over the already incapacitated Eugene Davis to kill him properly. Naru looked to be the most in pain.

"So that's what happened," he sighed.

"We are close to getting him now," Lin reminded him. "You sounded like you have a plan."

"A semblance of one," Naru corrected. "It needs finetuning. Can we go somewhere private?"

Naru and Lin migrated to the bathroom to discuss his top secret plan which left the society members with Madoka. Mai realised a little too late that Lin would have told her about their trespassing on school property.

"Don't think I don't know about your trespassing…." She raised her eyebrows. "I might need a few arrests to account for the time I've spent on this case."

It sounded like Madoka was willing to sacrifice them for the sake of her Police career. Whose idea had it been to trespass in the first place? All eyes turned to Michiru who had the grace to blush.

"None of you put up a fight and you all turned up that night. We're all in this together."

"John-san did put up a fight," Mai spoke up. "He was against it from the start. We just overruled him."

There was a moment of tense silence as they waited for Madoka to say something. She burst into laughter.

"I'm not booking any of you in for trespassing. You found Noll for us and his ghost won't be referenced in the case report so I don't need to record any mentions of your trespass," she paused. "I would fine all of you otherwise."

That was one hurdle overcome. On the less positive side, they still had a ghost Naru and a murderer to entrap. Naru and Lin emerged from the bathroom shortly after looking like they had come to an agreement. Lin stood by Naru's real body on the bed and sighed loudly.

"We have a plan. Who looks the youngest here?"

The society members all pointed towards whilst Mai pointed at John. Naru and Madoka also gestured in her direction.

"If we use Taniyama-san we can kill two birds with one stone," Lin said casually.

Mai was beginning to develop a feeling that she was being pulled into something that was over her head. The 'two birds, one stone' phrase was not helping either.

"Do you still have your school uniform?" the omnouji enquired with a shade of awkwardness.

Her homeroom had all agreed to have a high school reunion in five years' time wearing their school uniform so Mai had kept hers. She had only graduated a few months ago so she should still fit into it. In theory. What did Lin want with it? He clearly wouldn't be able to fit into it. She repressed a giggle at the image of the stern and tall omnouji in her school uniform. Now was not the time for laughter.

"I do," she replied cautiously.

"I think I know where you're going with this," Yasuhara spoke up. "It will work best with Mai-chan."

The only quality she had that the others didn't was her connection to Naru. She also had witnessed Naru's accident. She was beginning to get an inkling of what she was going to be used for. She thought it would be best to get the full story though.

"What do you want me to do?"

Naru smirked at her. It was rather reminiscent of a vampire smile and not a good vampire.

"I need you as bait."

"Don't put it like that," Lin cut in. "It's more like we need you for entrapment."

Mai was sure that both terms sounded equally terrifying. What had she got herself into?

* * *

 **A/N: There are two chapter left before the end.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Ghostly Hauntings:**

 **Chapter 11:**

Mai let herself into her apartment alone later that night. They had all migrated to the park near the hospital when visiting hours had ended. Lin and Naru had explained their plan in detail and she understood why it had to be her that took the risk.

She did want to bring Eugene Davis' murderer to justice, she just couldn't help feel apprehensive about entrapping him. There was a potential it could go wrong. She checked in the living room for Naru and couldn't find him so she went to her bedroom to find her high school uniform. Naru should turn up later.

Her uniform wasn't bad as far as school uniforms went. The red bow was cute as well and the skirt wasn't indecently short unlike some other schools. She located it at the back of her closet and brushed away the lint that it had accumulated. As far as clothing went, she was ready for the following day. Or rather evening.

The plan would be enacted in the evening because Urado taught at an evening cram school and Naru never appeared unless it was dark.

"Are you scared?" a voice behind her asked.

Mai turned to see Naru standing in the doorway. He was not looking as confident as he had been when informing them of his plan.

"Of course I am. I have to meet a person that killed your brother and threw you off a bridge so you would get hit by a car. I don't want to end up the same way."

Naru didn't reply and Mai realised that she sounded annoyed with him for coming up with the plan.

"I am going to do it. I've never done something like this before. I was scared when we broke into that high school and now I'm moving up the criminal ladder again," she smiled.

The plan involved her pretending to be a high school student that needed extra tutoring at the cram school Urado worked at. Using her real name would bring up a red flag if they looked her up so they were borrowing a name from a student from her high school that Madoka had reprimanded for smoking the day before. None of them were exactly operating within the law.

Naru walked over to her bed and sat down.

"Make sure to get lots of sleep tonight. You will just dwell on it too much if you stay awake."

Mai sat down next to him and yawned. His eyes never left her.

"Are _you_ scared?" she asked doubtfully.

"I'm a ghost, nothing scares me," he reminded her and flicked her arm lightly. "I am scared for you instead."

Mai felt a surge of happiness go through her when he said that. Then she sobered when she remembered the situation they were both in.

"What can go wrong? Mori-san and Lin-san will be close by."

Naru did not looked cheered by that.

"I constructed the plan to be as safe as possible. The problem is that I don't know how Urado will react. He didn't react well to seeing me last year- he tried to kill me."

Naru wasn't exactly wrong about that. She didn't quite know what to say to that. Mai had been worried about Urado turning on her suddenly and attacking her. Considering what he had done to Eugene and Naru it was likely that he was prone to acting violently without thinking logically. Lin and Madoka had promised to remain close at all times, but what if they were too late?

"I can look after myself," she told him.

The stern glance he gave her made her realise that he had detected her lie. For some reason he didn't pursue it.

"I do have one final concern about the whole affair."

Mai looked at him questioningly. She couldn't think of anything else that could go wrong besides everything they had already discussed.

"If bringing Urado to justice returns me to my body and I wake up from my coma, will I remember everything that I experienced as a spirit?"

That had been a concern in the back of her head the whole evening that she hadn't wanted to think about seriously. What if Naru didn't remember her when he woke up?

"My past self sounds… difficult and I'm afraid that I'll revert back to that. What if I don't remember you?" his voice dropped off into a whisper at the last part.

There was nothing she could say. They didn't have any previous cases to go by. Lin had researched it and unearthed nothing. There was nothing definite that would prove that Naru would wake up with no memories of his ghost self or the opposite.

She stared at Naru. She would regret losing him. Over the past week he had been the male friend she had never had. Yasuhara and John didn't count in the same way because she never told them anything too personal. Naru knew her fears and helped her. She was very fond of him and didn't want him to forget her. She wasn't going to confess to him though; he was a spirit and it felt wrong to romantically confess to a ghost.

"I'll miss you," she said truthfully.

"I'll miss you too."

* * *

The daylight hours of the following day passed too quickly for Mai. A five hour block of lectures had never felt so quick before. All too soon she was meeting Madoka in the toilets of a department store at 6:30. By now the sun had set and the air was cold.

Mai changed into her old school uniform in the toilets. It was a better fit than she had been anticipating. She emerged and handed Madoka her normal clothes. Lin met her outside the department store. The only thing amusing about the entire plan was Lin acting as her father.

The receptionist didn't find anything amiss about them and registered her almost instantly as a pupil at the cram school.

"Is it possible that my daughter could start tonight?" Lin requested. "I would especially like her to cover Biology topics- it's her weakest area."

They had already obtained the timetable of lessons from the cram school and knew that Mai had a high chance of getting into Urado's class which started in ten minutes.

"Of course she can, the scientific topics are being covered tonight by Urado-sensei and you're in time for it. It's the classroom down the corridor and the second door on the right," the receptionist explained.

Lin awkwardly said good bye and Mai followed the directions. The classroom was already half full of high school students. Mai sat down at the front and took out her pencil case and a notebook so she wouldn't look out of place.

Urado arrived exactly on time to start the lesson and Mai saw his face in real life for the second time. The longer she looked at his pale and unnaturally smooth face the more she was sure that he had been the man that had claimed to be a doctor on that night over a year ago.

Today he was dressed more like a teacher in a sweater, neatly pressed shirt and black trousers. The anomaly was the slogan printed across the sweater. Clearly Urado was sticking to his tendency to dress 40 years younger than he was.

As much as Mai hated to say it, he was a good teacher. If she hadn't already survived high school with mid range grades she would have been glad for the lesson. She took notes diligently until the end of the lesson. When the hour ended she waited for the students to file out and blocked Urado's exit out of the room.

"Urado-sensei, please may I have a word with you for a minute. I won't keep you for long," she requested with wide eyes.

He looked annoyed at the delay, but stood back from the door.

"What is it? I haven't seen you here before."

"I'm being haunted by a ghost…" Mai began.

Urado sighed and looked ready to leave the classroom.

"He says you killed him."

Now he was paying more attention to her.

"Last year you knocked him unconscious at your old high school and threw him off a bridge into the traffic. Is that true?"

Mai stepped forward and Urado stepped away from her. His surgically altered eyes were wide and his hands were shaking. She twisted in the knife further.

"The thing is, I know he's telling the truth because I was there. Don't you recognise me?"

Urado's eyes scanned her and from the panicked look in his eyes she knew he had put two and two together.

"…I'm going to give you a chance to keep your mouth shut forever or you will never be heard from again," he spat and inched closer to her.

His close proximity made the hair on her arms stand on the end. She resisted the urge to move away. She wasn't alone now and Urado was a lot older than he looked. She could overpower him. The murderer moved closer to her again, waiting for her response.

Mai stood still waiting for Naru to appear. It was the right time for him to appear. Why wasn't he coming? The tension was eating at her and the longer she was silent, the more confidence she was giving Urado.

"Cat got your tongue?" he asked.

A wisp of white appeared behind his head and Mai waited for Naru's body to form fully. She was running out of time. It took a painstaking ten seconds for Naru to appear. In that time Urado's breath wafted over her and he was now an inch away from her.

"His ghost is behind you," she pointed.

Urado raised an eyebrow, clearly assuming it to be a distraction. He grabbed her wrist and then turned around to see Naru glaring down at him.

"Why did you kill me, Urado?" he asked in his sternest voice.

"Because you wouldn't die. I hit you, ran you over with a car- I thought I was done with you. Then I saw you in the street and you followed me all the way to where I worked. I had to kill you again to keep you quiet. Why did you have to come back to haunt me?!"

Mai yanked her arm out of his grip.

"You're selfish," was all she said. "You destroyed the lives of two people and their family just so you could keep your drunk driving quiet."

"What can I do so you will leave me alone?"

"Confess your sins," Naru said. "There's a police officer waiting outside for you."

For a moment Mai thought that it was all over as easy as that. Then Urado grabbed her and held her painfully tight. The smell of his cologne was overpowering and his desperation was making his grip too tight for her to escape.

"Let her go," Naru ordered.

"You seem attached to her and I can't hurt you directly as I've killed you already, but I can hurt her to get you. Leave me alone or the girl gets it."

Mai attempted a karate throw that she had been taught by Madoka. Unfortunately Urado was holding her far too tightly for her to flip him over. If anything it made him laugh more.

"Naru…" her voice petered out.

The ghost held out his arms and closed his eyes. Mai watched a ball of light form in his hands as her eyes began to close. She could feel her grip on reality fading away and the black spots in her vision increased until she couldn't see anything at all.

* * *

"Taniyama-san…" she could hear shouting from far away as she struggled to open her eyes.

After what felt like a great effort she opened her eyes and found Lin looking down at her. The floor felt painful on her back and it hurt to breath.

"Where's Urado?" she slurred.

Madoka's worried face came into view.

"I would like to say I arrested him. I couldn't though because he doesn't exist anymore."

That made no sense to Mai in her half conscious state so she glossed over it to the more important question.

"Where's Naru?"

"He's gone," Lin said grimly. "He said to take care of you and then he disappeared completely. I don't think he's coming back."

Mai regretted not seeing him leave. If only she hadn't fainted. On the positive side it meant that Naru should have returned to his real body.

"Have you heard from the hospital?"

Lin shook his head and Mai's heart sank. Then she felt something vibrating violently in her pocket and she dug out her phone with difficulty. The caller ID claimed to be Yasuhara. He started speaking as soon as she picked up.

"Naru's awake!" he said excitedly. "Lin-san should get a call any minute now. We got kicked out by the staff so they can do tests."

The three of them stared at each other and Mai scrambled to stand up. Madoka sighed loudly.

"Someone has to work out how to explain the disappearance of Urado. You two go," she waved them out. "Tell me everything later."

"What happened to Urado?" Mai asked on the way to the car.

"I had wondered if Noll was capable of using his PK," Lin answered. "My question was answered."

* * *

A very surprising image was awaiting them at the hospital. The society members were sitting neatly in a row with their backs straight and were completely silent as if someone had told them off being unnecessarily noisy.

Mai realised why they were so well behaved when she saw a very much alive Naru sitting up and glaring in bed.

"What took you so long?" he asked.

* * *

 **A/N: I apologise the lateness of this chapter. I have been ill this week so I didn't feel up to writing much.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Ghostly Hauntings:**

 **Chapter 12:**

Mai took a hesitant step forward. Would he remember her? Or was she about to be rejected? Lin took the decision out of her hands by rushing forward towards Naru.

"Do you remember everything?" he asked.

Naru took a while to answer that and the time gave Mai a chance to observe what he looked like living and breathing. His skin was almost as pale as it had been when he was a spirit and his eyes were more of a brilliant blue. His demeanour wasn't as friendly though, he felt more closed off to her.

"I remember everything from before I was attacked," Naru said and Mai's heart sank.

"What about after?" Lin enquired cautiously. "Do you remember Taniyama-san?"

The whole room was so silent that the loudest thing was Naru's IV. Mai stood paralysed on the spot as she waited for the reply.

"Of course I remember Mai," Naru said and looked over at her.

Mai out a sigh of relief. She had been so sure that Naru would forget everything. She gained the courage to stand by his bed.

"What happened to Urado?" she questioned.

Naru held up a pale hand. "He's gone. I probably went a little too far with the PK."

There was no guilt in his voice so Mai knew that Urado's death wasn't going to weigh on his conscience.

"Think about Mori-san," Lin reminded him. "She has to explain his disappearance."

A flicker of guilt passed across Naru's face momentarily.

"I'll talk to her later, I'm just glad that I didn't die when I did it."

"I see," was all Lin said.

Mai had no idea what they were referring to so she left them in favour of finding out why all her fellow society members were oddly quiet.

"Why do you all look so scared?" she whispered.

"He's one of the best looking men I've seen, but he's hella scary," Keiko replied in a low voice. "When we came in after the doctors allowed us and asked him questions, he just said, 'I didn't realise this was a café.'"

"Then he gave us this look that implied 'shut up'," Michiru confirmed.

Mai glanced at Yasuhara. He shrugged nonchalantly.

"He is a little imposing," John agreed.

Mai could understand them. This Naru was colder and sharp, the spirit Naru had been curious and witty.

"I'm not that scary, I just don't like being overloaded with questions after waking up from a coma," Naru's voice cut through their nervous whispers.

It appeared that good hearing could be added to the list of alive Naru's traits.

"Mai, come here," he said in a softer tone.

Mai returned to his bedside again with a nervous heart. Unlike ghost Naru she could tell this Naru that she liked him and it wouldn't be strange. However this Naru wasn't quite the same.

"I remember seeing you now," he smiled. "At the accident."

"You did?"

Lin nodded. "I thought you would."

"We never made eye contact. You were the last good thing I saw alive," Naru explained. "I awoke in the road and was struggling for breath and was in pain. Urado was looming over me so I looked for help and I saw you at the roadside. I wanted to get your attention, but Urado knocked my head into the ground and I fell unconscious."

Hearing his description made Mai regret not noticing anything was wrong even more.

"It's a shame that you killed him before we got a chance to ask where Gene's body is," Lin noted.

Naru frowned.

"It's in a lake. I will have to stay here and find it," he said with a note of finality in his voice.

"Noll," Lin warned. "Your parents will want you home."

That was right, Naru didn't belong in Japan. He had only come here to search for his brother. He would need to go home to England. Mai realised that there wasn't much point in confessing to him if he was going to be returning to England forever.

"Can we discuss this after I've been discharged? I have to stay here for the first part of the rehabilitation program," Naru replied, effectively closing the subject.

* * *

For the first time in a fortnight Mai went to bed with no one else in her apartment. Naru's presence had been inconsistent and he was always gone when she woke up, but he had tended to be there when she needed someone else. Now her apartment seemed lonely and dark.

It was an odd feeling because Mai had spent many years by herself and had managed it mostly fine. At the moment she was wondering how she had managed it for so long.

She found it hard to sleep and she ended up worrying about her future instead. Naru would go home and everything would go back to how it was before. The society would return to doing nothing again and she still didn't know what she wanted to do.

Mai ended up giving up on trying to sleep and reading a book instead. It was nothing Naru would be interested in, but it was enough to take her mind off everything that was waiting for her in the morning. It was a shame she guessed the murderer wrong though.

The next day was a Saturday so she didn't have to worry about falling asleep in a lecture at university. Instead she could visit Naru in the hospital. The thought of visiting him alone was intimidating because the real Naru was more stern and strict than the ghost Naru she had been accustomed to.

She plucked up the courage to visit in the afternoon after doing her weekly shop. Fortunately or unfortunately Naru wasn't in his room. Lin was sitting by the window and didn't look at all surprised to see her.

"Noll is outside if you it's him you came visit," he told her with a twinkle in his eye. "You didn't come here to see me, did you?"

Mai flushed in mortification and turned to go.

"Noll probably isn't going back to England for a long time," Lin added.

What was Lin implying with that? Mai preferred not to dwell on it and headed off to the garden at the rear of the hospital in search of Naru. He turned out to be unexpectedly hard to narrow down. Eventually Mai found him under one of the willow trees sitting in a wheelchair.

"Hello Mai," he said without turning around.

Mai jumped guiltily. Perhaps she could add psychic powers onto the list of living Naru's traits. Then she remembered that he was capable of making people disappear. Knowing who was behind you didn't seem that powerful in comparison.

"How did you know it was me?" she asked as she walked around the wheelchair so she could see his face.

He smiled faintly.

"I was attached to you as a ghost, I can still sense your presence to an extent."

Naru did have a good point. There had been something else she had been wondering about.

"How did I have a dream about your brother's death?" she enquired.

"I heard about that," Naru commented.

He directed her to a wooden painted bench nearby and moved his wheelchair next to her.

"I think you do have some psychic powers to an extent. Having a connection with me strengthened them and when you had that dream, we were touching. You saw the same things I did so that has to be the case," Naru explained.

His explanation put everything into place for Mai. She hadn't developed psychic powers overnight, she had been piggybacking off Naru to an extent. Although he had said that she had some psychic powers and she didn't know which ones he was referring to.

"Should I need to worry about having any other dreams?"

Naru looked thoughtful. "I can't say for sure. Your abilities will be latent again and dreams that actually have significance will be harder to identify. You can tell me about your dreams if you like."

That was not going to happen if her dream about marrying him was any indication of her future dreams. However he was speaking like he was planning to stay in Japan like Lin had suggested.

"Are you going back to England soon?" she asked hesitantly.

Naru took a while to answer and Mai was afraid that she had made everything awkward.

"I would like to stay here. It's up to you."

That threw Mai. What did she have to do with it?"

"Why is it up to me?"

Naru shot her exasperated look.

"I know Yasuhara told me you were a little slow…" he sighed. "I like you."

Mai was almost certain she had misheard him or that she was having a very pleasant dream. The only thing that made her sure that she had heard right was how red Naru's ears were.

"Um, I feel… the same way," she stumbled over the words.

Naru flicked her forehead lightly. "That was obvious."

Mai suddenly felt very hot and was aware that she was as red as a lobster She hadn't realised that she was that obvious about liking Naru.

"Even Lin knows," Naru said much to her mortification. "Madoka noticed that I like you. The society members noticed as well."

"I'm sorry for not being observant," Mai huffed.

She was cringing inwardly at everyone knowing before she had. Who would have thought Keiko and Michiru were that observant?

"My parents are coming here to visit me," Naru changed the subject. "My mother speaks Japanese so you don't need to worry."

"Worry about what?"

Naru gave her another meaningful glance.

"Worry about being introduced to your boyfriend's parents."

When he put it like that Mai felt even more like she was not in reality. She had a boyfriend, it had to be a dream.

They spent the next hour talking and Mai found out about Eugene being his identical twin and about his family. She told him about hers in return. When Lin arrived to check on them she realised that there was one question left unanswered.

"Last year, how did you find Urado?"

Naru and Lin exchanged looks which confused Mai. Lin looked darkly amused.

"Through dumb luck," Lin said dryly.

"That afternoon I was sitting outside a café by myself going over a map to try to pinpoint the mountain I saw with my psychometry," Naru began. "There was a gust of wind that blew the map off the table. I ran after it and saw Urado. He looked at me like he had seen a ghost and then bolted. I realised that he had probably mistaken me for Gene and followed him. He got into a car exactly like the one I had seen and I followed him in a taxi."

That explained why he hadn't volunteered the information himself. It had been pure chance that he had encountered Urado.

"So you followed him to the school?" she asked.

Naru nodded. "He hadn't noticed the taxi and led me straight to where he worked. The school was mostly empty and Urado must have been intending to work late there so it would have been easy to sneak away and contact Lin. Instead I went to confront him in anger and he pushed me down the stairs which knocked me out. The next time I woke up was in the road."

That explained his ghost's presence at the school. Mai guessed that all the unanswered questions had been explained.

"So this case is resolved then?"

"Gene's body needs to be found," Naru reminded her. "We're hopeful that he might have left something that tells us where. Other than that, it really is over."

* * *

"How was meeting the boyfriend's parents?" Yasuhara teased.

They were walking to the society room after lectures. Naru's parents had invited her out for afternoon tea the previous day and Yasuhara had heard about it from John who had got it from Lin. The society members had a good information network going. Mai wished they could use it for something other than her dating life.

"It went well," Mai smiled. "It was nerve wracking at first. Naru's mother is nothing like him and his father was quiet, but not unfriendly."

"That's wonderful," Yasuhara replied as they got to the door. "It's unlocked… The others must have got here before us."

He opened the door and they found some familiar sitting at the table with a cup of tea. It was Naru and he was dressed in a dark blue shirt and black trousers. Mai had only seen him dressed in black or in pyjamas until now.

"I thought you were being discharged tomorrow," she said in confusion.

"I wanted to surprise you. Brown-san gave me the key," he answered.

John and Naru had become surprisingly close over the last two weeks. Yasuhara and Naru were not such a good combination. Mai sat down next to him and he gave her a kiss on the cheek whilst the society president averted his eyes.

"You do realise that since we've finished your case that we have returned to doing nothing?" Yasuhara reminded him.

Naru smirked. "I didn't come here empty handed, I brought a case."

He waited politely for all the society members before drawing a file out his bag. It sounded promising, an old house that was suspected of being haunted. The owners wanted the ghosts out so they could refurbish the house and sell it at a higher price.

"Are you willing to take on the case?" Naru asked when he had finished setting the scene for the case.

Everyone was in agreement. Keiko and Michiru went to purchase drinks from the coffeeshop whilst John and Yasuhara left in search of a cake for celebrating the beginning of their second case. This left Naru and Mai alone together.

Mai smiled at Naru happily. It was strange to see him outside of the hospital and not as a ghost. He looked even better looking in a less sterile setting.

"Did your mother say anything about me after I left the hospital?"

Naru's lips twitched and he averted his gaze.

"She asked for a wedding date…"

Mai's mind flashed back to her dream. It had been a special dream after all.

"What did you tell her?"

Naru raised an eyebrow at her and stayed silent. Mai poked him and gave him her best wide eyed look to persuade him into letting it slip.

"When you're ready is the best time," was his answer. "After graduation would be ideal. I'm making arrangements to stay here for a long time."

They smiled at each other and Naru gave her a kiss on the lips after making sure that the door was closed.

Mai thought back to how she had first met Naru when she witnessed his attempted murder. It was odd to think that she had gained a boyfriend out of such strange circumstances. She glanced at Naru who now looked very much alive and healthier.

The case had brought the society members closer together, introduced her to new people and given her Naru. She was looking forward to their second case and all the ones after that.

 **The End**

* * *

 **A/N: I would like to say thank you to everyone that supported this fanfiction.**

 **It didn't turn out like I had hoped, but I enjoyed writing it.**


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